Posts with the tag smears

I'm Getting Some Practice in Obama Apologetics

LDSNavyMom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:22:56 EST

As a Latter-day Saint, I'm called upon to defend my beliefs all the time in forums and in personal contacts. I'm used to that, and I can hold my own fairly well. I've been involved in Mormon Apologetics for several years, which brings me to the topic of this post.

This past weekend, I've had to explain and defend my political beliefs, and why I'm for Obama. I've discovered, not with much surprise, that most of my family and friends are for McCain. I've also been getting e-mail from some of my LDS friends who, again, not surprisingly, are for McCain. The thing that bothers me is that they quote Church leaders to me, talk about articles in the Church magazine, and, by inference, make me feel like I'm doing something wrong, something against the Church. Yet, I know I'm not breaking any standards, breaking any covenants, or anything like that.

I really believe good, faithful Christians, including Latter-day Saints, can be Democrats. The important thing is to use your mind, your heart, and your conscience in making important decisions, including voting. I truly feel that is what I am doing, by learning about the issues, fact-checking smears, and seeking out the truth, and then being true to myself. What more can anyone do?

Anyway, being put on the spot this way is helping me to solidify my political beliefs and better articulate them. That might be good for giving me the courage to get on the phone tomorrow and Tuesday. It's ironic, with me being a professional telemarketer, how hesitant I've been to get involved in the phone campaign.

McCain Racism, Hypocrisy on Khalidi Issue

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:53:14 EDT

McCain Racism, Hypocrisy on Khalidi Issue

by Juan Cole

The increasingly sleazy John McCain, who once promised to run a clean campaign, has now attacked my friend Rashid Khalidi and attempted to use him against Barack Obama. Khalidi is an American scholar of Palestinian heritage, born in New York and educated at Yale and Oxford, who now teaches at Columbia University. He directed the Middle East Center at the University of Chicago for some time, and he and his family came to know the Obamas at that time. Knowing someone and agreeing with him on everything are not the same thing.....

ENTIRE POST/VIDEOS- http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/mccain-racism-hypocrisy-on-khalidi.html

Defeating McCain: Ending Not Only Neocon Policies, but Also Tactics

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:48:45 EDT

Defeating McCain: Ending Not Only Neocon Policies, but Also Tactics

by Glenn Greenwald

Numerous commentators have condemned the McCain campaign's despicable -- and patently false -- attack on Professor Rashid Khalidi as an "anti-Semite," deployed in order, yet again, to insinuate that Barack Obama is an American-hating, Muslim/Arab radical. Even Fred Hiatt's Washington Post Editorial Page this morning called McCain's comments about Rashidi "a vile smear," "simply ludicrous," and "itself condemnable," and favorably cited Rashidi's response when asked by The Post if he wanted to address the controversy: "I will stick to my policy of letting this idiot wind blow over."

It's true, as those commentators point out, that this episode is just the latest in the McCain campaign's increasingly desperate (and laughably inept) attempt to win by sinking lower and lower into McCarthyite muck. But it goes far beyond just the McCain campaign. The neoconservative Right has been doing exactly this for a long time..........

ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/31/neocons/

Pennsylvania Republicans Send False Anti-Obama E-mail

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 21:17:03 EDT

Report: Pennsylvania Republicans email likens voting for Obama to rise of Hitler

By Haaretz Service

The New York Times reported Friday that a "new e-mail making the rounds among Jewish voters" in Pennsylvania, "equates a vote for Senator Barack Obama with the 'tragic mistake' of their Jewish ancestors, who 'ignored the warning signs in the 1930's and 1940's.'" The email, says the report on the Times political blog, was signed by top John McCain backers in the state. The email appears to refer to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany.......

ARTICLE-- http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1031235.html

FROM THE NYT POLITICAL BLOG:

by Jim Rutenberg

.....the letter’s allegation that Mr. Obama had “taught members of Acorn to commit voter registration fraud.” Mr. Barley said the party had no substantiation for the claim and should not have made it. (Mr. Obama’s campaign and Acorn have reported he did conduct two pro bono training sessions, of one hour each, for officials there more than a decade ago.)

Mr. Barley was also referring to a statement in the letter that Mr. Obama was “associated with a known terrorist, William Ayers, who thought the terrorists didn’t do enough on 9/11.”

ENTIRE POST- http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/pennsylvania-republicans-send-false-anti-obama-e-mail/

Are the Racist Smears Working?

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:25:26 EDT

Campaign by Codeword

By BRIAN JONES

This year , I'm guessing a lot of people are going to dress up as John McCain or Sarah Palin for Halloween.

If you've seen the videos of McCain/Palin rallies, you know what's so scary about them. You've seen people call Obama a terrorist or express fear that he's an Arab--or worse, a secret Muslim! You've seen the person carrying a Curious George doll with a hat that says "Obama." Yes, a stuffed monkey labeled "Obama."

In other words, you've been transported, via YouTube, into a world of hard-core racists--people who are just seething at the possibility that someone who isn't white might be the next president. And worst of all, some of those crowds look pretty big.......

ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.counterpunch.org/jones10242008.html

John McCain is Dishonest

Ivan Richmond — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:23:49 EDT

John McCain has been running a character assassination campaign against Barack Obama. He's been playing a con game to try to shift around Bill Ayers and Barack Obama to try to somehow associate Obama with Ayer's militant anti-war activities during the Vietnam War (which happened when Obama was a kid), just because Obama, along with countless respectable citizens, both Democrats and Republicans, served on the board of directors of a non-profit organization that Ayers, now a respected Professor of Education, happened also to be on.

John McCain has been playing a shell and pea game trying to make people associate Obama with certain bad apples in an organization called ACORN who were trying to make false voter registrations. The truth is that ACORN is a bipartisan get-out-the-vote organization and they were the ones who blew the whistle on their these bad apples as soon as they found out they were doing it. What that means is that all they want to do is just register as many people to vote as they can, but they leave the decisions up to those people. The problem is that some of the people they hired to get the vote out (and, as you can imagine they hire thousands of people), want to cheat to make money, so they'd fill out phony voter registration forms. This goes totally against what ACORN is trying to do. This link explains it:

http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=17855

It's true that the Obama supports ACORN, because, as a good, honest, upstanding citizen who supports Democracy, he wants everyone who's eligible to vote to be registered and vote, regarldess of whether they vote for him, for McCain, for Ralph Nader, or for someone else. That's Democracy at it's finest. He and ACORN are both blameless in this regretable act by a few bad apples.

But, McCain didn't stop his smear games there. He's authorized robocalls and mailings to people all over America saying nasty, hateful things about Barack Obama. These robocalls and mailings try to make him out to be a terrorist or claim that he's a Muslim. The truth is that Obama's a Christian. The truth is that Barack Obama's an upstanding citizen who cares about protecting America from terrorists.

What you can do.

Contact eveyone you know and tell them this. Stop dishonest character assassination attempts this elections season. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers (you may even be able to do this online, just go to google.com, search for your newspaper's name and you may be surprised to find that they're online and you can send a letter to the editor over the internet right now). Do whatever you can to get the word out about this dishonesty from the McCain camp.

One reason I'm voting for Obama is because I think he's simply more honest than McCain. McCain just seems like an oily con artist to me.

If you'd like to donate to my grassroots campaign for Barack Obama, click the link below:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/ivanrichmond

My night on the phone

The Kozmic Kid — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:45:31 EDT

I worked the phone for Barack last night. For the most part it was the usual experience - five to ten ring-no-answers, or "No one is available to take your call..." followed by one or two real conversations. It was a pretty even mix between McCain and Obama supporters. Nothing special.

But I did get one woman who claimed to be undecided. I asked what issues might influence her decision. What do you thing she said?

It was a litany of McCain talking points: William Ayers, ACORN, baby killing, and so on. Only one question was related to an actual issue, namely, illegal immigration. Nothing about the economy, health care, Iraq, or entitlement reform.

What to make of this? Perhaps she was really undecided, and the issues she was concerned with are ones of character rather than policy. Or perhaps she was a McCain supporter who was just messing with my head.

On the way home I pondered this conversation. And I resolved that if this election turns for McCain on the basis of these vile Rovian tactics, it wouldn't happen because I left something undone. I logged on last night and made another contribution, and signed up to knock doors this weekend.

You should too. Don't let McCain win by appealing to our ugliest instincts. I'm exhausted after eight years of being torn down and driven apart. I can barely tolerate another three months, much less another four years. Let's elect someone who will instead build us up and bring us together.

Bill Lear Does Not Move Me.

Karen Funk Blocher — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:35:50 EDT

I received yet another email forward, and it set me off on another rant. I offer it up as a guide to your own responses to this junk.

The original email is too long to reproduce here, so I'll settle for a few excerpts:

-----Original Message-----
Subject: Fwd: FW: Most Americans are aware of Bill Lear,
Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:54:47 -0700
Straight talk for Republicans and Democrats.

Most Americans are aware of Bill Lear, because of his Lear Jet business; however, he has accomplished much more, as you can see at this link: William P. Lear -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia .
His opinions are worth a read:

A Humble Plea to McCain and Obama Supporters:

Dear friends,

I am truly astonished by the ignorance Obama supporters have displayed
in their quest to get someone - ANYONE - into the White House. Now, wait
a minute. I can well understand your dislike or even hatred of our
clown, GWB, but he is not the root cause of all of our problems. Our Congress
is. And a change there would be welcomed by all. You ain't gonna get
it done with Obama. You gotta fire the whole damnable crooked Congress.

...
While McCain has abstained from playing "the race-card", Obama is
playing it to the hilt even though he's technically not an African-American.
To qualify for this distinction you must be at least one-sixth black.
Obama is only one-eighth. His father would be, as he was one-sixth. No,
Obama is more Muslim than black yet he trades on his blackness.

The larger question I have about him is that we really don't know much
about him other than what HE tells us, what we read on blogs and from
some serious non-partisan investigators whose factual reports are,
unfortunately, generally ignored and which receive precious little
media exposure.

I, as a registered Independent, a military veteran and a patriot,
beseech you to put aside party considerations and vote for the lesser of the
two evils. Yes, I am NOT a McCain supporter, but he is, at least, not a
flake, doesn't carry Muslim baggage and is a PROVEN hero and patriot
WITH experience. It's not a party issue. It's all about electing the best
we can trust with what we've got to work with. Mr. Obama is NOT that guy.

Uh-huh. Sure.

I replied:

Vague smears and pleas to "trust me" from a millionaire industrialist do not move me, especially coming from someone with the slogan and book title, Fly Fast, Sin Boldly (See http://www.billlear.com), who admits to spending much of his life outside the U.S.. Contrast Lear's reasons, which basically come down to "he's a Muslim" and "he's uppity," with Colin Powell's well-reasoned, seven minute endorsement, and there's a huge difference in the quality of the argument.

Details of Barack Obama's life have been thoroughly investigated and reported on for the past two years. Millions and millions of words have been written about him, true and false. Lies are perpetrated by far right nutcases (including an anti-Semitic would-be lawyer who was refused admission to the bar due to personality disorder)* and passed on to people who are made nervous because he has dark(ish) skin, a dead father from Kenya and a funny name. The smears are distortions at best, out-and-out lies at worst, endlessly passed on and believed despite being thoroughly debunked in the press and on several fact checking sites. (And in case you assume that Politifact, FactCheck.org and Snopes.com lie, consider that they debunk anti-Palin and anti-McCain stuff too, and Politifact even calls Obama out on inaccurate statements he makes.)

Why is all this happening? Rich people with a vested interest in Republican power, and people who honestly believe Obama is dangerous because he's "not like us" are willing to lie and cheat to convince you not to vote for Obama. They know they can't win on the issues. Obama's tax plan is the one that benefits most people, while McCain' s will continue to redistribute the wealth upward to the richest 1% of the country. McCain's will result in more dead soldiers, and more hatred of the U.S. around the world. And by the way, his support of veterans' issues, such as funding of the VA, is abysmally poor. So the Republicans and radical right try to distract you with vague insinuations about Bill Ayers (who sat on a board with prominent Republicans as well as Obama) and a heaping helping of lies and distortions. YOU ARE BEING PLAYED.

If you don't know who Barack Obama is and what he stands for, you're not looking very hard. Venture beyond the email forwards, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the Drudge, and check out a wide range of newspapers, magazines and tv networks, the fact-checking sites, and Obama's own site. If you dare to do this, and give these resources your honest attention, I think you'll be surprised.

I am Karen Funk Blocher, and I wrote this message.

* His name is Andy Martin. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13martin.html

Resources:
http://www.barackobama.com/index.php
http://www.snopes.com
http://www.factcheck.org/
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
http://digg.com/2008_us_elections

Another email required a much shorter response:

Subject: McCain's or Obama's Computer
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:29:39 +0000
Barack Obama has put out an ad that simply reminded us John McCain cannot use a computer. Well guess what ... Barack cannot land a jet plane on an airc raft carrier at night.

This was followed by a picture of a laptop next to a picture of a jet cockpit, and then a goofy photo of young Obama next to one of McCain posting next to his plane. "If your [sic] still thinking about voting for Obama ; I have a question for you..." the email says. "Is your head up your..." well, you know the rest.

My reply:

How exactly does crashing several Air Force planes forty years ago make John McCain more qualified than Obama to lead this country?

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_mccain_crash_five_planes_did_he.html

(As the article notes, he was not actually at fault for every crash and near-crash, but he did cause at least one actual crash, plus an international incident when he brought down power lines while clowning around in the cockpit.)

Although the "McCain doesn't know how to use a computer" ad was a bit of a cheap shot, I submit to you that knowing how to use a computer to retrieve and disseminate information is slightly more relevant than knowing how to fly a outdated plane, which McCain probably would not do anymore because of his injuries. Neither skill is a strong reason for voting for or against anyone. Fortunately, both men have far more important qualifications.

Karen

Will the people forwarding such emails listen? Maybe not. But it's important to counter the smears, ignorance and disinformation as best we can.

Karen

Be not afraid Stand up and speak out!

Nick Danger — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:41:27 EDT

Early in his campaign I supported Barack Obama. I set up a page on the www.barackobama.com website and on the www.democrats.org site as well. I posted blog after blog to inspire and prod the base into action. I also posted my blogs on other sites including rightwing news service sites. However, I live around and work with so many on the other side that I used an old picture of Dean Martin in the studio and then one of my smiling pitbull mix to represent me while writing primarily under the moniker Nick Danger and a few others. Eventually I replaced the photos with pictures of me and today I'm posting my name because though I've always been proud to stand-up as an Obama supporter I have not felt I could expose myself to business consequences from those on the other side. I believe with all my heart that we need more than just a change in party but a change in process of thought. That scares many. Real change always has its detractors. I stand tall in solidarity with all those Democrats, Independents and Republicans who have not fallen prey to the fear mongering lies from the other side. To all those Democrats, Independents and Republicans who see the true colors of those robo calls and leaflets of lies are being spread to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the American people. Voters are smarter than this. I salute all those willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with me in support of Senator Barack Obama and real change. God Bless Barack Obama and God Bless America!-Greg 'Huessein' Philippiformerly known as Nick Danger

ACORN Fraud Rumors Squashed

Lane — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:07:19 EDT

(Ok, I couldn't help it. I like acorn squash.)

Let's deal with the ACORN rumors, shall we? I think anyone who has worked with a non-profit will feel pain at reading this, because it is so often that when you are trying to do the most good for a non-partisan cause that bad nuts get into the batch. Whether they are employees or volunteers, sometimes your own people undermine your goals.

Does this make your efforts worthless? No. Does that mean that your organization is the problem? No. Is is frustrating and disheartening? Heck yes.

So, on to the reality check. I'm using FactCheck.org and the ACORN website as my sources.

WHAT IS ACORN?

ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now
ACORN activities in question are mainly centered around registering individuals to vote. From their website: The goal of ACORN and Project Vote's voter registration drives is to empower low-income and minority communities by giving them a voice in the political process. ACORN hopes that expanding the electorate will result in more candidates who appeal to historically underrepresented voting populations.

WHAT IS THEIR PROCESS?

ACORN hires people to obtain new registrations, paying them by the hour.
ACORN is required by law to turn in ALL completed registration applications in almost every state. This means even registrations that are known to be inaccurate.
ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when they turn them in to the state, which they are generally required by law to do.
In states where the law does not require it, ACORN's own legal counsel strongly advises that the group follow the same procedures, because "only election officials are legally able to determine the validity of a voter registration application."
ACORN staffers call the phone numbers written on completed registration forms to make sure they're valid and also take note of incomplete or duplicate forms. The group says that it alerts election officials to forms that look fishy when it sends them in.

ACORN VOTER FRAUD

John McCain stated in the final debate that ACORN is "now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Goodness, McCain - embellish much? FactCheck.org disagrees with this outlandish statement about the fabric of democracy being unwoven by voter registration. But I'll put it together for all of us (majority of information from FactCheck.org):

Voter fraud is inaccurate. It's voter registration fraud. This means that registrations are coming in that are invalid. It does not mean that people will get to vote illegally or stuff ballot boxes. It means that inaccurate registrations have been made - for dead people, people underage, fictitious people. People who WILL NOT VOTE.
No ACORN office has ever been found to have perpetrated fraud. Individuals who worked for ACORN have been found to have performed registration fraud, and the majority of them were fired by ACORN and have pled guilty.
Dan Satterberg, the Republican prosecuting attorney in King County, Wash., said, "Joint federal and state investigation has determined that this scheme was not intended to permit illegal voting. Instead, the defendants cheated their employer, ACORN, to get paid for work they did not actually perform."

OBAMA'S CONNECTION TO ACORN

FactCheck.org says:

The ad says that "Obama's ties to ACORN run long and deep" – that he "taught classes" for the group, paid a "front" $800,000 for get-out-the-vote efforts, and was endorsed by ACORN for president.
That last one's true – ACORN's political action committee did offer an Obama endorsement.It's also true that Obama has worked with the group in the past. In 1995, Obama helped represent ACORN in a successful lawsuit to require the state of Illinois to offer "motor voter" registration at DMV offices. Obama has said [but no longer says- LEB] that this is his only association with ACORN, but that's not the case – he has had other, though less direct[emphasis mine], interactions with the organization. After law school, Obama directed a Chicago registration drive for Project Vote, which works closely with ACORN. And when Obama was on the board of directors of the Woods Fund, the foundation gave grants of $75,000 in 2001 and $70,000 in 2002 to ACORN's Chicago office. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee cite an additional grant of $45,000 in 2000. The Woods Fund has not responded to our calls about their 2000 grants. The Obama campaign also paid Citizens Services Inc., a group affiliated with ACORN, more than $800,000 for get-out-the-vote (not voter registration) efforts during the primary election. The nature of CSI's services was initially misrepresented on the Obama campaign's disclosures to the Federal Election Commission, which the campaign describes as an oversight. The Obama campaign says it has not been involved with ACORN during the general election. As for "teaching classes" for the group, the McCain campaign cites a March 2008 Newsday article, which says that ACORN organizer Madeleine Talbot "initially considered Obama a competitor" when both were working to get asbestos insulation removed from a Chicago housing project, but that "she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff." Newsday does not say whether Obama accepted the invitation. An article by Chicago alderman Toni Foulkes says that "we [ACORN] have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year" between 1992 and 2004, when the article was written. The Obama campaign says that Obama participated in two, one-hour trainings in a volunteer capacity. Foulkes could not be reached for comment.

So, before we get all wound up in trying to pin massive voter fraud on anyone, perhaps we should do our own reality check of the facts.

Can we get back to talking about real issues again?

(originally posted at Exponential )

People in glass houses......

George from Sayreville, NJ — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:25:49 EDT

Does the GOP do its research before launching baseless attacks?

Take a look at this video from YOUTUBE of McCain sounding strangely 'socialist'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8EyGpOU3qM

Quick Obama Facts Page: Please pass it on

Matt Black — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:43:06 EDT

I just sent this to "FightTheSmears.com" The McCain people are pouring on the gasoline on the social networks like Twitter and Facebook. We need better tools.

Dear FightTheSpears:

We made this page
http://tinyurl.com/3qpqfm

...so people have quick, easily pastable facts about Obama, to use on Twitter and other social sites. I would strongly advise you copy this and make it official (or make your own).

Social net users are doing this ad hoc, and it's very ineffective. Our items are now being posted regularly. If your provide a similar "Quick facts about Obama" page, millions would use it.

I love the internet!!!

WaltO4 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:02:19 EDT

The internet is awesome. I say that because it is a reliable avenue to receive news. I especially love it during this campaign. I give it credit for the smears just flying off of Obama's skin and flying right back into the GOP's face. Not every member in the GOP is spewing this silliness, but I feel sorry for the ones who are. I love the internet because everytime someone tells another lie, we can go jump on the net and find the truth. Pat Buchanan told Chris Matthews that Powell's endorsement was based on race. Limbaugh said the same thing, as a matter of fact, Limbaugh, is an expert on African American issues now. People can no longer deny their statements easily, as in the past.

Cheers to the internet, the new truth verifier!!!

Weekend of Lies

Hellataz — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:06:11 EDT

I seriously need to stop watching CNN, not just because the more i watch the less impartial it seems, but also because I keep getting caught up listening to McCain and Palin stump speeches and their incessant lying is getting to me.

First I catch Sarah Palin speaking in Pennsylvania and I have no idea why they bother, Obama has a double digit lead there and McCain needs to concentrate on defending his own traditionally red states which he is slowly losing to Obama. But her stupidity aside, We hear her talking up Joe the plumber (i can't take much more of this frauds name). Palin said last week she was tired of Joe the plumber and didn't want to bring him up and now his name is all she can say. But in her defense, she has to bring up Joe, because she would have no other way to tell these lies:

1. Obama is a socialist.

False, Obama might have views that are lean towards socialism, but Obama's tax plans yield more toward balance and giving the poor a chance to catch up and return to middle class where they can engage in commerce again thus stimulating our economy. Obama is not trying to randomly take from the rich and give to the poor. He just understands that one can not exist without the other and without extra money, the poor and middle class aren't able to buy products from the rich companies and then those companies go out of business.

2. Obama ruined Joe's life when he came knocking on his door, Joe didn't ask Obama to come to his house. And now Obama is attacking Joe.

False, Obama didn't go to Joe's house, Joe walked up to Obama on the street while he was canvassing a neighborhood to talk to voters. Joe fed Obama a fake story to get Obama to say something the McCain campaign could use to make Obama look bad. Afterwards it was McCain that put out video and news of Joe, it was McCain who mentioned Joe over and over again at the debates and it was McCain who can't give a stump speech without saying Joe the Plumber every 5 minutes. This is what caught the attention of the media, not Obama. And as Joe gave numerous interviews it was revealed that Joe was not who he said he was and the Obama campaign simply stated what Joe had admitted himself. No one attacked Joe.

3. Joe finally got Obama to explain his tax plan in terms we could understand.

False. Obama's tax plan was always clear and understood. Obama said nothing different to Joe the plumber then he did to anyone else when asked about his tax plan. The only difference was him making a statement about spreading wealth around that McCain jumped on and took out of context.

McCain seems to think he can promise everyone that he wont raise their taxes. Well then who is going to pay for this bailout? Obama never once lied to anyone about his tax plan, he always explained that the top 5% americas, the wealthy, would be paying higher taxes. But also explained that the tax increase was nothing they weren't used to under the Clinton administration...you know that time when our country had an economic surplus.

4. Obama is going to give free money to the unemployed.

False, Palin says that Obama promises 95% of americans a tax cut, but that a large amount of that group is unemployed and not paying taxes so he must mean he will be giving the ones not working a free check.
I can see where this statement is misleading, but Obama had stated numerous times that he would only give tax breaks to those paying taxes. He can't give a tax break to those not paying taxes, so given Palin's intelligence level, i can see why she would be confused, but she's heard Obama's clarifications and chooses to ignore them to perpetuate the McCain campaign's rhetoric.

These are the current lies the campaign is running on this weekend, not any mention of Ayers or terrorist on the stump, but you can be sure that it's still being pushed on undecided voters by way of robocalls. Calls which the congress has pleaded to have stopped, Calls that are stirring up more unneeded hate, division and anger.

Obama needs to take some of that money that we've donated to him and buy his own round of robocalls that send out a positive message instead of the negative shit coming from the McCain campaign, Something like:

"This is Barack Obama and I just wanted to say Hi and hope you are having a wonderful day! I know this economy is rough patch in our countries history but I assure you that I understand what you are going though and have lots of great ideas to help us bounce back. I have no desire to darken your day with negative attacks on my opponent, so I will just end this call saying, that more then anything what I want for this country is for us, no matter how we vote, to come together and once again be the UNITED stated of America."

McCain's thinks we're donating too much!

Ivan Richmond — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:26:22 EDT

Have you heard the latest smear? Now, McCain's criticizing us for having raised "too much" money. See here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081019/ap_on_el_pr/mccain

Can you believe that guy? I mean, in the past few elections, it's always been the Republicans who have raised way more money. I seem to recall that Bush raised $300,000 in 2000, 3 times what Gore raised, all because he had some of the wealthiest voters imaginable. Now, we have this grassroots effort to raise money. If you're like me you've been donating $20, maybe as little as $5 at a time, when you can afford it, and it's not been easy in this economy. But, I for one keep donating because I really care about these elections. I'm really tired of seeing Bush tear down this country, rip up our Constitution and attempt rape on Lady Liberty. I'm livid! I want a president who will respect our Constitutionand actually do what's best for the people for once. What does McCain think we should do, just not donate? I'm sure he'd like that.

But, what's going on here is framing at it's nastiest. Most Americans vote based on character, rather than on policies. McCain's frame is that Obama is dishonest. We need to reframe this. For more on framing, see framing guru and UC Berkeley linguist George Lakoff's article here:

General Powell Closes the Deal

ted in pdx — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:19:39 EDT

(Posted to the Washington Post, October 19, 2008):

As a Republican (speaking on behalf of my fellow prisoners), my sense of humor has been taxed at a higher rate than ever before by the pronouncements of our party's nominee and the actions of the RNC. When I heard Senator McCain suggest that obviously bogus voter registration forms were "tearing at the fabric of democracy", I immediately wondered whether it was the fabric of democracy that was really at risk, or perhaps instead it was the unraveling of his ego and the demise of his personal ambition that he was most concerned about. Now, the RNC, faced with the remarkable fact that 3-million ordinary citizens have destroyed the hegemony of millionaires (and billionaires) over campaign finance, sounds the alarm that there might be a conspiracy at it's root.

On the same news day, one of the most respected members of our party, Colin Powell, endorses Senator Obama, and condemns the smorgasboard of cheap shots and smears that have been the core of John McCain's campaign strategy. General Powell very appropriately identified the latest incendiary charge, that "Obama is a Socialist..." as yet another example of a fundamental defect in Senator McCain's campaign strategy. He also went on record regards Senator McCain's selection of Gov. Palin as his running mate, and the simple and obvious fact that Gov. Palin does not meet any reasonable minimum standard of qualification to step in to the office of President of this nation.

I am relieved. I've been wasting hours every day trying to make these points from a Republican perspective. Now that General Powell has calmly articulated these compelling arguments, I think I can go back to my day job, and hope that other members of my party who place intellectual honesty above party dogma, will carefully consider General Powell's comments when they are face to face with the ballot they will cast for this election.

Ignorance..the latest american epidemic.

Hellataz — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:45:05 EDT

Again I am responding to a crazy email sent to me, take a look at the original message:

Wouldn't this scenario be scary???
Much is made of McCain's age. Has anyone brought up the fact that Obama smokes and both of his parents died at an early age. Plus Biden has had two brain aneurysms which could have killed him. If they both died while in 0ffice that would leave Nancy Pelosi as president. I can't think of a better reason to vote for McCain & Palin.

My Response:

I can't believe people actually send this stuff out, really? It's just silly, it's the equivalent of talking about Palin's daughter and the immature boy she's forcing to marry her. Why don't republicans talk about issues? Why is it non stop smear and mud slinging, is it perhaps they have no stance on any issues, at least none that America is in agreement with.

Again emails like this are silly, they are counter productive and have no bearing on this election. This election year is important and it wont be decided with nasty comments and staged interviews on fox news, people care about the issues and sorry but the majority of america does not like where this country is after 8 years of the republican party and they do not agree with their staunch religious and social views.

A smart man once said that it is ignorant to believe this country can run with just one party, we need liberals for their social compassion and we need republicans for their strong military views and both need each other to balance keep the other in check, well we've had 8 years..it's time for the scales to tip and we start showing some social compassion towards Americans and their real life issues.

_____________________________________________

More on Ignorance, this time in Florida.

While campaigning in Florida, Barack Obama Was Interruped by a group called Blacks against Obama. They had signs saying 'The KKK Endorses Obama' and 'Jesse Jackson Hates Obama.'

Ok, so no one take this wrong cause i'm attacking these idiots and they are black, but SERIOUSLY??? The KKK? That is about the stupidest thing i have ever heard. The KKK endorsing Obama is fundamental against everything they stand for. They would never back a black presidential candidate let alone one who seeks gun control and more civil rights.

_______________________________

And Lastly in our list of ignorance

Anyone who watched Sarah Palin's "interview" on Fox news and thought it was actually a hard hitting bi-partisan and fair interview.

I mean , Come on Fox News, you're not even trying to look open minded and impartial any more. You get the 2nd interview with the VP candidate and all you can ask her is how much she thinks Obama is bad for this country and ask her leading questions about how she is so awesome and Obama sucks...seriously, i only saw bits and pieces, but i'm glad i didn't waste any more of my life on that, and Palin should be ashamed of herself for doing such a puff piece, and so should any american watching it who thought it actually revealed any relevant info pertaining to this election.

Intolerance even in the EDUCATED?

Hellataz — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:39:39 EDT

I received this today and couldn't believe it came from someone with a Ph.D....

_____________________________________________________________________
This letter sums up the opinion of thousands of Americans...
This letter was sent to the Wall Street Journal on August 8, 2008 by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D. Of Beverly Hills , CA

On July 31, 2008, the Wall Street Journal had an article titled, "Where's The Outrage?' Really. I can tell you where the outrage is. The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have no representation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening - for who am I?

I'm not a billionaire like George Soros that can fund an entire political movement.

I'm not a celebrity like Barbra Streisand that can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates.

I'm not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore that can deliver misleading movies to the public.

The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change.

Why am I outraged? I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair.

Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?

When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we couldn't afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.

I am outraged, that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.

I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally; That the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it Incumbent to send my child to private school; that every time I go to the ATM, I see"do you want to continue in English or Spanish?"; that every time I call the bank,the phone company, or similar business, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish." WHY? This is America , our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.

I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week, Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day. What am I missing? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee Tennessee, last I checked, is still part of the United States . If Muslim's want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American Laws and not impose their will on our long history.

In the same week, Random House announced that they had indefinitely delayed the publication of "The Jewel of Medina," by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife, A'isha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims. When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.

As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the Environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment - I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit.
But when and where does the lunacy stop? Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong; good from evil. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.

So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper middle class woman is powerless to do anything about it. I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree withme.
Alisa Wilson, Ph.D.
Beverly Hills, California

_____________________________________________________________________

My Response back....

uh huh, middle class doctor from beverly hills is really the voice of the people, whatever...

In any case i have no doubt that this is how thousands of people feel, as i also have no doubt there are thousands of people who are racists and bigots, who are snobs and who look down on others because they don't understand or share their culture.

To the person who wrote this and those who agree, i say SUCK IT UP, America is a melting pot, founded on IMMIGRANTS! White people aren't even the majority anymore, and while i find the influx of the spanish speaking options a bit annoying sometimes, i'm not going to lump all of them up and crucify them for things the uneducated rich think of them.

Illegal immigrants DO NOT abuse the system, they are incapable, the only thing illegal immigrants are doing, is coming here and getting paid under the table for menial labor that most white spoiled americans would never want or do. That's not to say that it's right, but i am so sick of so many people going on and on about the hispanic community abusing the welfare system or taking jobs, if there is a hispanic family on welfare then they are NOT illegal, they can't be. The state makes you jump through major hoops to get on food stamps or get cash aid or med-ical, there is so much paperwork involved and proof you have to submit to prove you legally belong here. You can't just cross the border and walk up to the welfare office and ask for free stuff. It's a MYTH that white rich american tells people so that others can be scared of brown people like they are.

What's even funnier is, where is all all the moral outrage for the millions of "white trash" folk who abuse the systems just as everyone claims the latin community does? For every bad sterotype that one can drum up for every race there is an equally bad one for white people and their behavior. When will people get it? We are all the same we are all capable of doing good or bad, all capable being stupid or striving to educate ourselves, our only differences are our beliefs and cultures, which we should embrace and try to understand not shun and cling to the days of yesteryear.

The reason that so many things are translated to spanish is because we have a large number of latin-AMERICANS living in this country, just like african-AMERICANS and asian-AMERICANS, this is a melting pot and people need to learn to be more tolerant of other races and cultures. I hear this crap about "well those damn Mexicans come here and have a ton of kids just so they can make money"...FALSE. Most Mexicans are catholic, they don't believe in birth control or abortion so of course they have large families, it's also part of a long standing latin culture, they have large families in their counties too, so it's not a valid excuse to attack them with.

It's also not right to blame your fellow americans for trying to achieve what everyone wants, a home. It was mis-management from greedy financial institutions that issued loans to people that were less them desirable candidates. It was the Real estate fat cats who inflated the Real estate market for profit and enjoyed the real estate boom, until americans from no fault of their own began losing jobs and couldn't pay their mortgages. And all this is going on while the even bigger fat cat CEO's of all those financial institution collected massive bonuses and severance and then jumped ship before everything came crashing down, leaving the poor to pick up the tab.

I also can't believe the ignorance of this lady to demand that Muslims only celebrate what she perceives to be "american holidays", who the HELL DOES SHE THINK SHE IS? Did she also object when the Jewish community wanted to celebrate Rosh Hashanah or Hanukkah? It is not hers or anyone else place to tell anyone what religious or culture holidays they can or should celebrate. You don't want to be persecuted for celebrating easter or Christmas do you? Because not everyone believes in those holidays and i guarantee you those numbers are much greater then the amount of people who believe this garbage.

Who is this lady or anyone for that matter to tell their fellow americans what is right or wrong, what is moral? That is for the individual to decide. And if these people who believe this stuff are really christian then they should embrace what christianity is at it's roots, love everyone because god created them and only allow god to judge them. Are you really so presumptuous to believe you or anyone else are above GOD?

I honestly cannot believe this came from a women with a Ph.D, how can someone who is so educated write something so ignorant?

Who's Julie???

Malee from Orlando, FL — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:56:10 EDT

I was directed to an article in the Cleveland Leader from a C2NN (Care2 News Network) story submission:

Barack Obama's Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing Article Recovered

Which basically accused the Obama campaign and some media companies of covering up Senator Obama's past ties with ACORN by claiming that they were "wiping the web clean of potentially damaging articles that had appeared, and were previously publicly accessible," giving evidence of his involvement with ACORN with a citation from from a 2004 article "Case Study: Chicago - The Barack Obama Campaign" written by Toni Foulkes:

"Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).

Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends."

This article led to an add-on article, after "Fight the Smears" amended information about Obama's involvement with ACORN:

Obama Campaign Involved in More Cover-Ups in ACORN Scandal

Which basically accused "Fight the Smears" of lying. The article stated:

As of yesterday, Fightthesmears.com stated:
Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.
Sometime on Friday, the website was altered, and the text was changed to state:
Fact: ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee.
The mere fact that his campaign has now changed the language of the site shows that they have conceded the fact that their original remark was a bold-face lie. As a lawyer Sen. Obama should know the importance of language.
The original statement implied that he had no working connection with ACORN, whereas the new statement now insists that he has never been employed or hired by ACORN.

At this point, I had to make my comments. Making corrections is not proof of intent to lie and deceive people! This ACORN witch hunt is getting out of hand, really. They've whipped it up into a conspiracy to cover-up, the size of Watergate. If you wish to read my comments, they're under If you really wish to debate semantics, I agree, but that wasn't the point of the article, and I think the difference is in negative implication.

I clicked on the author's name, Julie, to see what info there was about her under the hyperlink. What info was there?

Julie

History

Member for

2 years 13 weeks

And that was all there was. So who is she?..

Fighting the smears

Sharpstick — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 22:12:22 EDT

It has taken several months of dialog, but my Mother now sends my the "scare tactic" emails that she gets from her friends and alows me to do research on them and give her another point of view. I don't know if she will vote for Obama, I just don't want her to live her life in fear of her President.

The Best Person for the Job

Jim — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:05:00 EDT

It is clear, more then ever that the best team for this country is Obama and Biden. Even though at times during this debate, I wanted Barack to go after more of McBush's lies, distortions and insults, I can see that there is a strategy in how Barack responded or didn't respond.

But we can respond. It is obvious that anything abut Ayers or Acorn is a distraction and has nothing to do with Barack Obama or the Democratic Party. I hope the Obama campaign advertising goes after McCain and Palin on issues like the Keating five, and her ethics violations. There are also some real issues like the free cell phone towers on McBush's ranch and how Pallin's million dollar plus home got built in Alaska. Palin has no credentials for the Vice Presidency. I really wanted some response to McCain's attack on Joe Biden.

The high road is fine but there needs to be some response to smears as the campaign has been doing. We need to keep emailing everyone we know to dispute smears, set the record straight and inform everyone about the negative aspects of McBush/Palin.

The media is ignoring Palin's problems in Alaska and repeating all the McCain campaign lies about Ayers and Acorn non-issues. The media needs something else to talk about and the only way to get them there is to feed them some of the real negatives of McCain and Palin. They are both really not who they pretend to be. McCain is a puppet of the lobbyists, his whole entourage is made up of Rove, his followers, the most dirty lobbyists and neo-con Republicans.

There should be more facts getting out there about Schmidt and Davis, two of the most evil, corrupt advisors McCain is being led by. The stuff McCain spouts is written by them. As was obvious in the debates he just keeps repeating their talking points over and over again, like the "Joe the Plumber" routine. McCain will be controlled by these same people if he is elected and as his dementia increases he will be replaced by Palin who is another puppet, but with her own extreme fundamentalist agenda. McCain and Palin are trying to rally their far right base but that won't do them much good if the rest of the country votes for Obama.

Moderate Republicans and Independents must recognize that a vote for McBush/Palin is not in their interests economically or in any other way. They need to vote Democratic to change the course of the country away from disaster.

Democrats need to go after Republican voter registration drives they way the Republican Party is once again going after potential Democratic voters. We also need to contest attempts by Republicans to disqualify minority voters in almost every state.

Could Fox News Start Another Holocaust?

Nancy Cronk — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 08:48:39 EDT

Dear Friends/family/acquaintances,

I wrote this with many of you in mind, and I am sharing it with as many other people as I can find. I am not mentioning any names here. Those of you who watch Fox national "news" will recognize I am talking to you, and those of you who don't, will recognize my public warning to all.

I am so worried about this country, I don't know what else to do.

I know that the vast majority of my friends, and millions of people like me, would never take Fox national "news" seriously (I am not talking about the local stations here, but the national one on cable). We know that it is entertainment, and we know that the Fairness in Media act does not apply to it because it is cable. With the deregulation of the airwaves and media these last eight years, anything goes. We know that Fox "news" is deliberately extremely biassed to the right, and that its content is designed to get people to support the interests of big business and to to be brainwashed against their own self-interests. We know that they deliberately slander anyone who advocates for the "little guy", because that undercuts the profits of the corporations who pay them to throw their mud. We know no intelligent person would ever think it is "fair and balanced". How could they possibly???????

But they do. Millions and millions of millions of Americans, who still have not gotten the memo that it is merely "entertainment" rather than real news. Millions and millions and millions of people who actually think that because they say the words, "fair and balanced", they actually aspire to be so. I am concerned that if the large corporate interests that give the world Fox news ever wanted to commit a Holocaust, or witch trials, or massive public lynchings, or something as evil as these things, they could seriously get away with it.

I sometimes make myself watch Fox "news", although I know that I will get upset watching it after a very short time. I make myself watch it because I firmly believe I should "keep my friends close, and my enemies closer". So, I force myself to watch it, and I imagine myself getting all of my "News" from this station. If I did, I would probably become very paranoid. I would think liberals and unions were nuts, and minority members were evil. Every "news" story is presented, edited, and exaggerated from that angle. Every story, twenty-four hours a day (I know that because I have watched it all night at times.) The same corporate lies are presented all night long, just like they are during the day.

Lately, I have been sickened by the whole ACORN story, for example, because it is so heavily sensationalized. The lies are fantastic. There were 8 or 9 "news" stories about this, or mentions of it, every hour on Fox "news". Never mind that every credible, sane, unbiassed agency has said that this story is not accurate, and that the lies have been hugely distorted. Fox "news" says it is true, so millions of Americans think it is true.

I recently shared my concerns with an intelligent male friend of our family. This man is a college graduate, has a job with a great deal of responsibillity, and has a great family with several children. He is a mildly religious person, pays his taxes, and is a good all-around citizen. Even though this man in intelligent, I was the first person who told him Fox "news" is not real news. Two weeks later, he said to me, "I have to admit, I did start to notice after awhile that what you are saying is true. Fox is the only "news" station that perpetuates the "stories" they report. All of the other stations are very different. I did not realize that until you pointed it out to me.

What do we do? Imagine if Hitler owned a tv station on cable, and used "news" anchors that were always emotionally charged like the ones on Fox "news". Psychological research shows that when information is presented in ways that evoke emotion, it is remembered more easily, and people are more inclined to act on that information. Fox "news" does this in every segment. If Hitler wanted to motivate people to kill others, he would certainly have started using Fox "news" had it been available to him. Their method of delivering lies and distortions would have made the job easy and effiicient.

"People are too smart for that", some of my friends tell me. These are the same friends who say they do not understand where all of the irrational sentiment is coming from about Barack Obama, or why people bring monkey dolls to McCain/Palin rallies. They don't understand why people are falsely being accused of being "terrorists", and why violent racist acts are increasing all over this country.

But I do understand it, because I have many dear friends and relatives who watch Fox "news", and watch it regularly. They cannot be the only fifteen or twenty people who do. They are religious and secular people alike, peopje who have jobs and families, pay their bills, and are otherwise good citizens, and great people. Not only do they watch it, they believe it, and they don't even question what they are watching. They truly believe that watch they are watching is "news".

I am very worried about this country. I am worried that millions of Americans are psychologically addicted to a "news" source that constantly plays on their emotions, brainwashes them, and feeds them lies about the world. I am worried that if Fox news had any other agenda than their current one of getting people to vote against their own economic best interests, they have enough believers, and they could do pretty much anything they wanted to do, and a sizeable minority of the population would simply follow their suggestion. This is how Hitler attempted to take over the world. Who is the next Hitler? Does he watch Sean Hannity?

There is a saying, "If we don't know history, we are destined to repeat it". One of the most significant events that led up to the Holocaust was the German economy collapsing. Germans needed a scapegoat for their fear.

You may laugh at this suggestion, however, let me remind you of two recent news stories. In one, a man who regularly watched Fox news (books written by some of their frequent guests and anchors were in his home in prominent places), walked into a Unitarian church during a children's pagaent, and murdered a number of people, wounding many more. He said he did it because he hated liberals, gays and black people. This man left a letter saying he had just lost his job and needed a scapegoat.

A month later, a similar story happened when an unemployed man shot the leader of the Democrats in Arkansas.

Even more concerning than just the occasional crazy people who are pushed into acting on their impulses, I am worried about the complacency of the majority. Most of the people who read other newspapers and who know how insanely biassed Fox "news" is, don't recognize the danger in ignoring them. They are not remembering the lessons of the Holocaust. They do not do anything about the daily brainwashing by Fox "news", except to shrug it off and say with a smile, "Come on, people are smarter than that".

Smart people killed millions of Jews, gypsies, academics, homosexuals, developmentally disabled people and others in the Holocaust, too, and not that long ago. Other smart, decent people saw it coming and did nothing.

Pass this on if you care about this country. Or don't. The choice is yours. I hope we don't regret our complacency later.

~ Nancy Cronk

First they came for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up,
    because I wasn’t a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up,
    because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up,
    because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time there was no one
    left to speak up for me.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

The problem with Republicans changing the rules at this stage and the main consequences of it

Ms CYPRAH — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:31:33 EDT

There are four crucial weeks left to the American elections, a very long time to test political fortunes. To the Democrats it must feel like the end is so tantalisingly near yet so achingly far away, in view of what is possible for both sides of the race up to then. Already, the Republicans are baring their nasty fangs. Bereft of innovative ideas, deprived of any real leadership and with no obvious solutions to any of the country's pressing problems (goodness knows there are many!), the intreprid Republicans, headed by John MCcain and Sarah Palin, have decided to take leave of their collective senses and get stuck into the mud instead.

The problem with accusing your opponent of anything at all that smacks of smear, slander or simple nastiness, is that two can play the same game. Having been in the line of 'terrorist for friend' fire all weekend, Barack Obama's team is now hitting back with a short documentary about McCain and Keating, an association that would have been better left unearthed in view of what is happening in the current economic meltdown.

Obama Buttonmania!

Karen Funk Blocher — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:05:45 EDT

Adapted from an entry on Outpost Mavarin:

I've been at the local Democratic HQ parts of the past two afternoons, finally making buttons for myself, for friends, and for the local Barack Obama campaign. Some of them were existing designs, most of which I've previously featured on one or both of my Outpost blogs. But I've also designed some new ones by request:

It's funny how information makes the rounds thse days. Last night Twitter led me to a Huffington Post article about people who have been doing what I've been doing, designing buttons for the Obama campaign. It turns out there's a website called buttons4obama.com, and a group on barackobama.com called Button Makers For Obama. I didn't want to use other people's designs, except for Microsoft clip art and what the campaign provides as downloads; but the Buttons4Obama designs were inspirational. I hadn't even considered trying a photo button. Well, I've rectified that now:

There are a few more, but you get the idea. See the whole collection at http://picasaweb.google.com/Mavarin2/Obama#. You're welcome to use anything you find there as a button, a sticker, a graphic for your blog or Facebook page, etc. I only ask that they not be used for profit - any money beyond costs should go to the Obama campaign.

In other news, I responded to yet another email smear yesterday. This one was titled "What Does Obama Read?" and to her credit, the first forwarder listed do not include the most egregious falsehoods seen on the version covered by Snopes.com. My response:

Not surprisingly, this is another distortion of the facts. From snopes.com:

**** Quoted text from Snopes snipped here. Basically it established that the book was a bestseller by a respected, secular, politically moderate reporter who writes for Newsweek, and was not anti-American.***

Beyond that, the fact that a Presidential candidate who is regularly accused of lacking foreign policy expertise might actually READ A BOOK on the subject by a well-regarded journalist should be considered evidence that he takes seriously his responsibility to be as knowledgeable as possible about the issues he will encounter as president. But this email implies that there is something evil and sinister about reading a book by a guy who writes for Newsweek! Do we really need to get into a discussion of book banning sensibilities here?

Karen

I've ranted a few rants on my main blog since I last posted here. Here are the links:

That's it for tonight. Now to follow Twitter links to political articles until I absolutely have to go to bed!

Karen

"Osama Bin Laden LHAO"

M Dickerson — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:48:39 EDT

The Towers, the Pentagon, the White House – Distractions – Who’s the real Terrorist? McVeigh? Bin Laden?

Let’s get serious people.

Palin said last week in the Vice Presidential Debate that she doesn’t want us to “point backwards”.

I think it behooves us to look backward and learn something.

Everyone remembers what happened on 9/11/01 right? Things got really serious on 9/11. And when things got serious, we tossed aside party affiliations, racial prejudices, regional biases, everything was set aside and for a rare moment, we exemplified the American Spirit that day. After a devastation of epic proportion on American soil, we were as one heart, stunned and appalled at the audacity, the brazen manner in which we were attacked. Let me tell you, seven years later we’re still missing the whole point.

Let’s look back and think about it. Our Towers were destroyed…the World Trade Center, the heart of the world market. The ultimate goal of the attackers, to destroy our Country, to take away our power and standing in the world. They couldn’t send a missile. We deduced that it was a primitive, gorilla type of attack to use airplanes instead of bombs. We perceived our attackers in the same way; primitive, barbaric. We underestimated Bin Laden and his terrorist network. Lest we forget that the attackers were plotting and planning within the United States for five years before they attacked. This was a secret, long thought out diabolical plan to destroy us. So sneaky in fact that it was done in broad daylight.

We were goaded into doing it to ourselves.

Look, we knew soon after 9/11 that the attackers were Al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We knew that Osama Bin Laden masterminded the attack. They bragged and cheered on video as Americans poured into New York City from all over our Country to help their fellow Americans. Remember that? Well, that spirit is gone now.

When a sitting United States Senator running for President of the United States and his Vice Presidential candidate have the audacity to accuse another sitting United States Senator running for President of the United States of “palling around with terrorists”, tacitly implying that he too may be a terrorist or at the very least, a terrorist sympathizer, we have lost it.

Now let’s examine this charge. If Sen. John McCain truly believes that Sen. Barack Obama is a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer, why hasn’t he told the authorities? Does he have evidence to back up these allegations? Why won’t Sen. McCain draw the connection for us? I mean, he’s served with the man in the United States Senate for four years. Why are we just now hearing about this? Why didn’t he say this to Sen. Obama’s face in the debate on Tuesday night?

Rebel-rousing a partisan crowd of voters into a rabid blood-thirsty cacophony of angry ranting serves what purpose Senator, Governor?

Here’s what’s deadly serious...

Attacks, Smears, Angry Mob Mentality

FiredUpVoter — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:39:05 EDT

Hang in there, people. My guess is that the rumors will get worse and more elaborate as we get closer to Election Day.

I was forwarded a video recently. A lawyer in Philadelphia, a self proclaimed lifelong Democrat, is filing a suit to remove Obama from the ballot. He insists that Barack cannot prove his citizenship and is hiding behind technicalities. He says that even if Obama was born in Hawaii, then he lost his citizenship when he entered school in Indonesia. (Since when could a young kid do this? Don't you have to be an adult and go through the formality of renouncing your citizenship???) He says Barack won't release any records: academic, medical, or otherwise.

I'd love to hear from a lawyer who actually DEALS with citizenship and immigration law; Someone without an agenda who can put this to rest once and for all. This guy on YouTube never stated his specialty in law.

I've also noticed a few troll e-mails ranting and raving about socialism and marxism and how they feel Obama fits that. Umm.....Palin's and Cheney's desire to give the VP position more power within the constitution sound fascist to me. Firing anyone who does not agree with you sounds fascist to me. Pulling voter suppression stunts and torquing up the angry mob sounds fascist to me.

Many of these e-mails and YouTube videos assert that Obama supporters are blind and foolish.

All I know is that McCain is lagging behind in the polls, racism exists, suspicion of other cultures exists, and the Republican machine will stop at nothing.

Go 'Bama.

CBS NEWS: McCain's False Claims On Bill Ayers Misleading

Jeremy Smith — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:24:02 EDT

As the lies continue flowing the the McCain Campaign and RNC, CBS News has looked in to a recent McCain Web Ad and found out that the the Ad is misleading.

OCT 13, 2008(CBS)

A recent web advertisement from Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain makes two false claims about a connection between Bill Ayers and Senator Barack Obama.

1. “Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation, together.”

The foundation they are referring to is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), set up in the early 1990’s with funding from the Annenberg Foundation to reform public schools. Walter Annenberg is a well-known philanthropist and conservative Republican.

“This was not the Bill Ayers and Barack Obama show,” says Ken Rolling who was the Executive Director of the CAC and ran the organization, “It was not created by two people, it was created by a hundred people.”

Was it radical? Rolling says that’s in the eyes of the beholder, but he confirms that the CAC funded programs with the following purpose: teacher training, music education, support for new school council candidates, afterschool programs, education research, improvements for literacy and arts programs and initiatives to strengthen parental involvement in public schools.

“The idea that the Annenberg Challenge was somehow the extension of the Weather Underground of the 1960’s, that is just one of the most lunatic contentions I can imagine,” says Mike Flannery, political editor at the CBS Chicago affiliate WBBM who has covered Chicago politics for 35 years.

Flannery says the other people on involved in the CAC with Obama and Ayers were "business types and Republicans."

Obama chaired the board of the CAC but he did not serve on the board with Ayers. Ayers served on a separate advisory board.

2. “They wrote the foundation’s bylaws together.”

“They didn’t sit over a coffee table somewhere and say ‘let’s do it this way,’ they were involved with a large group of people,” Rolling says, “They did not actually write them.”

Rolling says Ayers served on a voluntary advisory board that hired a lawyer to write the bylaws that were eventually approved by the entire board of directors - one of the votes for the bylaws came from Obama.

Flannery says the negative attention that is being paid to the CAC is mystifying to Chicago reporters, "Those of us who have covered politics in Chicago the way I have for 35 years simply don't recognize the caricatures and the ridiculous descriptions of this group."

CBS NEWS: McCain's False Claims On Bill Ayers Misleading

Jeremy Smith — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:23:44 EDT

As the lies continue flowing the the McCain Campaign and RNC, CBS News has looked in to a recent McCain Web Ad and found out that the the Ad is misleading.

OCT 13, 2008(CBS)

A recent web advertisement from Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain makes two false claims about a connection between Bill Ayers and Senator Barack Obama.

TROLL ALERT - Henrietta from San Antonio TX

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:15:58 EDT

Give up trying to smear Barack on this site. Unlike you, the people on this site read the facts not just listen to smears and talking heads. If you want the truth about Raines, Johnson and Howard you can find it on FactCheck.org http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/are_three_former_fannie_mae_executives_economic.html
and Snoopes.com http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/fanniemae.asp

And stop posting this smut on our site. Go find your own negative buddies to talk ugly with - no one here wants to read your crap!

Why I Want to Shake Hands With a Republican.

Melanie — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:55:41 EDT

Longtime Michigan Gov. William Milliken (b. 1922), a Republican, held office for fourteen years while I was growing up in the state. He loomed large as a political figure who earned appreciation and support on both side of the partisan aisle. My parents, who were ardent, lifelong Democrats, always voiced their respect for Milliken—and it was a mighty rare occasion for them to speak well of a Republican leader, especially in the era of Nixon and Watergate.

I had not heard Milliken speak out in years, until this morning, when a Michigan friend sent me the article below. The former governor has clearly maintained his ability to think beyond political boundaries. Although he originally endorsed John McCain, he backed away from his endorsement this month after McCain's campaign began attacking Barack Obama.

Milliken told The Grand Rapids Press: "He is not the John McCain I endorsed."

It's interesting to note Milliken's closing sentence in the article: "Increasingly, the party is moving toward rigidity, and I don't like that. I think Gerald Ford would hold generally the same view I'm holding on the direction of the Republican Party."

More prominent Republicans elsewhere are voicing the feeling that their party has been hijacked—above all, when McCain/Palin rallies spout venom and hatred, calling Senator Obama a terrorist because his name is not "Smith”—and McCain himself fails to come forward to unequivocally challenge and reject these events.

A further example of this disconcertion within McCain’s own party occurred when Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt’s daughter, Fox political commentator Michelle Laxalt, spoke out with great passion on Larry King Live about her disgust with the McCain smear campaign.

On her left in this interview, incidentally, is fellow Republican, Kathleen Parker, who wrote the National Review article, calling on Palin to step down as VP nominee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQRBZGVagcQ&eurl=http://www.thoughttheater.com/2008/10/

As a Democrat, I reach out today to such Republicans, and thank them for their integrity, in rejecting the political thuggery of smears and innuendo heavy with jingoism and racism.

I encourage both Democrats and Republicans among my friends and relatives to join me in what must be a cross-partisan effort to honor the political process of this election, without inciting hatred.

As financial markets and institutions collapse around the world, our armed forces continue to die in Iraq, and unemployment and mortgage foreclosures rise—this country needs to mobilize across all boundaries of race, religion, and partisanship for our recovery.

Please reach beyond your comfort zone today, and initiate this handshake to someone who does not match your own demographic or partisan profile. As Milliken says, we "ought to be talking about the issues." He has earned my handshake.

=======================

Former governor Milliken backs away from McCain

by Pat Shellenbarger | The Grand Rapids Press

Friday October 10, 2008, 6:57 AM

GRAND RAPIDS -- He endorsed John McCain in the presidential primary, but now former Republican Gov. William Milliken is expressing doubts about his party's nominee.

"He is not the McCain I endorsed," said Milliken, reached at his Traverse City home Thursday. "He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me.

"I'm disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues."

Milliken, a lifelong Republican, is among some past leaders from the party's moderate wing voicing reservations and, in some cases, opposition to McCain's candidacy.

During a stop in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican U.S. senator from Rhode Island, said he's voting for Obama and urging others to do likewise.

McCain campaigned for Chafee's unsuccessful re-election bid in 2006, but Chafee said he is concerned McCain has swung to the right, a divisive strategy that could make it difficult for him to govern.

"That's not my kind of Republicanism," said Chafee, who now calls himself an independent. "I saw what Bush and Cheney did. They came in with a (budget) surplus and a stable world, and look what's happened now. In eight short years they've taken one peaceful and prosperous world, and they've torn it into tatters."

As for McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, "there's no question she's totally unqualified," Chafee said.

He had similar reservations about Obama's lack of experience, but said the Democrat's handling of the campaign convinced him he's ready to lead.

Chafee said he has spoken with several other moderate Republican leaders, and "there are a whole lot of us deserting."

One of them is Phil Arthurhultz, a former Republican state senator from Whitehall, who was traveling the state with Chafee to drum up support for Obama.

Bob Eleveld is a former Kent County Republican chairman who led McCain's West Michigan campaign in 2000. This year, he has remained mum unless asked.

"I'm not supporting either of them at this point," he said. "Suffice it to say there are a number of people who have been strong Republicans in the past, including party chairs, who feel as I do." He declined to name them.

In the past, McCain was more of a moderate known for his straight talk, Eleveld said.

"I think the straight talk is gone," he said, describing himself as a member of the party's moderate wing. "I think he's pandering to the Christian right. That's some straight talk from me."

Whether they represent a widespread movement or a few disenchanted members in the Republican Party is unclear.

"I don't think for one minute John McCain has violated the trust we put in him," said Marge Byington Potter, a former chairwoman of the Kent County Commission, who calls herself a moderate Republican. "I think McCain understands people are in a situation that people are hurting terribly."

Milliken stopped short of saying he will vote for Obama, but said he differs with McCain on the Iraq war and his choice of Palin.

"I know John McCain is 72. In my book, that's quite young," said Milliken, 86, Michigan's longest-serving governor. But he added, "What if she were to become president of the United States? The idea, to me, is quite disturbing, if not appalling.

"Increasingly, the party is moving toward rigidity, and I don't like that. I think Gerald Ford would hold generally the same view I'm holding on the direction of the Republican Party."

He Is Not Like Us

Bodie P — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:55:43 EDT

Sarah Palin has been telling anyone who will listen that Barack Obama is "not like us." The Republican rallies are becoming increasingly venomous. Barack Obama's middle name--Hussein--is used as a slur, to prove his differentness, and to foster the idea that he somehow has ties to the Arab world, and by extension, terrorism. It's working. Audience members shout that he should be killed, that he is a terrorist. Even uniformed police officers, who should know better, fan the flames.

IF THE "NICE GUY GLOVES" EVER CAME OFF...

Chris from Santee, CA — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:12:13 EDT

Informed and intelligent citizens of this country know that the "guilt by association" game as played by our politicians is a distraction from real dialogue that this country desperately needs. But if Barack Obama took off the Nice Guy Gloves and played the same game as John McCain, I imagine his TOP TEN list would look something like this:

The Top Ten Associations of John McCain

(the Judgement and Character portrait):

1. U.S. Council of World Freedom (USCWF) - McCain was a Board Member of this group that circumvented law, financed right-wing military institutions, and engaged in sometimes brutal anti-communist tactics. Linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America, they supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

2. Anthony Bouscaren, (McCain’s fellow Board Member, USCWF) – Veteran of the Pioneer Fund, a Eugenics Group researching white superiority.

3. Jay Parker, (McCain’s fellow Board Member, USCWF) – Registered Foreign Agent for the Apartheid government of South Africa in the late 70’s.

4. Leonore Annenberg, president of the Annenberg Foundation, who funded the Chicago education board where Barack Obama and William Ayers sat in a room six times together. McCain just trumpeted a list of 100 people endorsing his White House bid. Second on the list is Mrs. Annenberg.

5. Marilyn Shannon, Vice Chairwoman of the Oregon GOP and John McCain delegate - McCain spoke at an event for Oregon Citizens Alliance where Marilyn preceded him at the podium, praising Shelly Shannon, a convicted domestic terrorist who shot a Dr. George Tiller for providing legal abortions. McCain sat silent with no rebuke.

6. Rep. Rick Renzi - indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges related to a land deal in Arizona, according to the Associated Press. Renzi and two former business partners were accused of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government.” Rep. Rick Renzi was co-chair of McCain’s Arizona campaign (i.e., a member of Sen. John McCain’s “National Leadership Team” and a co-chair of his Arizona Leadership Team). Renzi has been in the past a "good friend" of John McCain and they were seen together often.

7. G. Gordon Liddy - Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction for his role in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) McCain has praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."

8. Sarah Palin – Palin has been actively involved with a secessionist group that professes its hatred for America, and whose husband was a card-carrying member of the group for seven years. Sarah’s Pastor has preached that “God will punish America”.

9. The Keating Four - If it wasn't for John McCain's intimate association with them, the Savings & Loan crisis that cost the American taxpayers $2.6 billion, would have been known as the Keating Four instead of the Keating Five Scandal. The Keating Five became synonymous for the kind of political influence that money can buy. As the S&L failure deepened, the sheer magnitude of the losses hit the press. Billions of dollars had been squandered. The five senators were linked as the gang who shilled for an S&L bandit. The Senate Ethics Committee gave a formal reprimand to John McCain and criticized him for having exercised "poor judgment" which McCain agreed with at the time.

10. The Iraq War - McCain voted for the war that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the final cost to Americans will be 3 times more than the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf wars combined, or $2.4 trillion. Compare that to what it would cost to bail out homeowners facing the imminent foreclosure of their homes, as well as those in danger of being foreclosed upon during 2009 - $1.3 trillion.

The Future...

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:00:58 EDT

Every day I watch and compare the differences between the campaigns of my candidate of choice, Barack Obama and John McCain. Every day I find the McCain campaign more distasteful, negative, ugly and full of lies and misrepresentations than it was on the day before. With all that is going on in America and in the world, and knowing that our country needs to pull together in order to solve some of the challenges we are facing, I find it hard to believe that anyone would vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. There are stark differences between the two campaigns regarding honesty, substance, organization and long-term plans for the future of our country. The McCain/Palin ticket is asking us to believe that they would bring change to America out of one side of their mouths, while they play the same old dirty games republicans use each election out of the other side.

With all that we are facing as a country, does McCain really believe that ANYONE will want to work with or for him or his people to solve the challenges in America after he has created and deepened such ugly divisions between the American people by using such negative and divisive language and tactics? Do McCain and Palin really believe that they will gain the cooperation of the democrats after slinging so much mud and cow patties? Will they recognize the vile and totally split country they will have created with their negative crap if they succeed in scaring Americans into voting for them over voting for real hope and change?

Imagine our country under a McCain/Palin presidency. The McCain/Palin ticket is uninspiring, presents no hope for the future and offers Americans nothing towards working together to form a more perfect union. If they win this election, we will be so torn apart, disillusioned, mistrustful of our elected leaders and determined not to cooperate, that our country will continue to loose its values and importance in the eyes of the people at home and in the world. I pray that the people of America will reject the McCain/Palin politics of fear and smear, and will choose hope in order to build real change for America’s future with fresh ideas and determination coming from the bottom up! This is our time – it is our moment!

Fight the Smears--but pay attention

Nanci — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:06:29 EDT

We are down to the wire, folks, and things are getting ugly out there.While Bush-McCain go on with their smears, enlisting the help of their 'girls', the US government is beginning to look at the powers they coerced Americans to give them to "rescue" (convenient change of terms from bailout, and no rescue in sight so far), the banking and financial industry.

Who was the first candidate to call out AIG for their junket after receiving their bailout? Obama. Who knows the middle class makes under $250,000/year? Obama. Who knows health care insurance costs more than $5000 per year, and who will avoid taxing employer sponsored health care plans? Obama.

Now the Bush/Republican administration is again expanding its powers by getting further involved in the private sector by proposing the takeover of the ownership of banks. This is the party famous for small government? Somehow Bush has engineered an expansion of government and ruin of the economic system that puts capitalism at jeoprady. How did that happen?

Pay attention. Your dollars, not just tax dollars, but your paycheck are at risk. Your health care is at risk. Your children are at risk. Your very system of government is at risk. And McCain's response is to ask for more, more bailout money for the bankers and CEOs. What? One junket is not enough? Are CEOs not happy with their $480,000,000 severance paychecks?

Pay attention. Obama must win this election or we'll be in a socialist economy and standing in food kitchen lines in another four years. Consider contributing to the Obama campaign in these last days.

Obama is too much of a gentleman to go on and on about the Keating Five. McCain is too much of a coward to smear him face to face (age changes people). But whatever you do, whichever side you are on--do Pay Attention!

VOTE FOR CHANGE!! VOTE FOR REAL CHANGE!! VOTE FOR AMERICA!! VOTE FOR OBAMA!!

A FALL POEM FOR YOU

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost (1923)
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

VOTE FOR AMERICA!! VOTE FOR OBAMA!!

You Take the High Road...

Bodie P — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:40:45 EDT

I became an Obama supporter during the primaries. It wasn't that he had extensive experience--though I was impressed by the people from whom he had sought advice--or that he had a crackerjack plan to offer. It was that he ran a clean, dignified campaign in spite of the provocation to do otherwise.

He focused on his vision, what he wanted to accomplish, and if he was light on details, at least the details he offered weren't designed to discredit his opponents through side issues. And while it won him my admiration, it cost him. The pundits said that he needed to "get tougher," that he could not win without resorting to dirty tricks.

I hoped they were wrong.

The Campaign of Lies, Smears, and Distraction has started.

Nick and Pat — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:33:10 EDT

John McCain’s campaign was brilliant. From the moment he chose Sarah Palin to energize the radical right, through the lipstick and pig distractions. McCain was rolling and had erased Barack Obama’s lead, or was within the margin of error in most polls.

Sadly for McCain, recent events forced the presidential campaign back to an unfortunate discussion of real issues. Interviews brought into clear focus Palin’s obvious lack of intellectual curiosity and capacity. The financial crisis and his “strong fundamentals” and other absurd comments about the economy made it clear how out of touch McCain is, and has been, throughout his career.

Polls have swung widely to Barack Obama. Now, in desperation, the G.O.P. and McCain have abandoned any pretext of honor and started a smear campaign beyond any in recent memory. Yes, even beyond that which Karl Rove ran for George W. Bush. The lies being spread about Barack Obama—although uniformly discredited many times—are just beginning. The right wing slime machine will work overtime the last month of the campaign. We’re seeing the result of their failed policies, but they will try to convince us black is white, up is down, and day is night in their attempt to maintain power at all costs.

Embrace the change America

Gocachi — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:45:30 EDT

October 8, 2008

Inspirational speech for the Obama Campaign

By Gocachi / Marcail Parker

I support Barack Obama because we are on the same righteous path to serve America without fraud. We believe that all Americans deserve the chance to live the American dream. Moreover, we both believe to fight for the legal rights of Americans that cannot speak out due to their fear of opposition or a handicap that imposes upon them an immobility to courageously stand up and fight for the American dream. Like Obama, I too will one day follow his steps as a Senator to help other Americans fulfill their American dreams. I believe change will come. It gives me great joy to stand up and support a righteous leader that believes America needs change. That is why I support Obama.

Barack, Barack, what makes a man, a man, is his prodigy. The people, on the other hand make presidents. Americans are not stupid. We are very intelligent and we know all politicians receive donations for their campaigns. The righteous candidate will win this presidency, but will have to unfold truth to the people with your utterance, and not from the voice of your opponent. State your truths about your contributions and your sources and move on with this race.

America is interested in the security of our nation and the future of our children. Our economic status is our utmost concern. We need to hear more than ever from a righteous voice the assurance the next president will balance the budget, reform the American dream, uphold the laws studied, and change. This is not a statement of hope. The righteous candidate will discern that this is what America wants and needs.

America does not care about the personal attacks, and frankly prefer that neither candidate feed lies to America. Voters that want drama will turn to sources that are shaky, and proven false, because that is what they want, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change drama chasers.

Serious voters will make an intelligent decision and there is absolutely nothing you can say with your eloquence that will change our minds.

Obama, your record of accomplishments will help Americans make the right decision. Serious Americans will do their own research about each candidate. Some will be very impressed with your work as a Senator. You have accomplished in such a short period of time, great things. In comparison, they will study McCain’s 21 years of service to see that it was disadvantaged. If a man falls but just once, shame discredits his accomplishments. Nevertheless, the humility expressed by his actions will resurrect him to a profound glory observed by the people that favored him most.

However if a man continues to repeat his mistakes, the people will not favor him and will let him fall to destruction. In addition, neither, men or God will redeem him because he has proven by his greed and corruption that he will continue to do the people wrong.

May I remind you the privilege to serve the people was initially decreed by God’s own utterance? It was his decision to give men the privilege to rule dominions of people while he rest. Moreover, throughout history we can trace the good, the evil, and the corrupt and righteous kings. Make this what you may but remember God has a hand in the direction of all righteous leaders. So continue to make right your strong hold and share your views with the people. Stand firm and support democracy. Uphold the values of the American dream high, so the people will favor your righteousness and not the history of failed kings, senators, and presidents. May God bless your efforts to change the way Americans thinking positively, will motivate righteousness and stamp out corruption so that America can move forward and rebuild our economy, explore the beauty of her inhabitants and gifted, so that she may bring about peace, and hopefully, one day security under righteous conditions.

So when your opponent attacks you with ill remarks remember, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” These are clear characteristics of a righteous man. You just have to listen to reason.

As Americans, we all have an obligation to perform righteously. Therefore, this letter goes out, not just to Presidential candidates and congressional representatives but, to Americans upholding self-evident truths… The laws may separate the state from the church. Even so, when it is all said and done the final decision falls upon all American men and women as one. Moreover, that one decision will be for America. Therefore, for people who chose to silence their right to vote, or imbalance the election by choosing a candidate that is less likely to win, may you be reminded that your decision will effect America and not just the actions of your choice.

The failed unrighteous presidency of George Bush is self-evidence that a silent vote can lead to corruption, economic devastation of our economy and the destruction of the American dream. Behold my brother’s keeper! Behold my father’s keeper! Behold my mother’s keeper! Behold my sister’s keeper! Behold my grandmother’s keeper! Behold my grandfather’s keeper! Behold my American brothers and sisters the actions of your choice. Your right to vote for a presidential candidate has always been allowed by God to determine whether men can rule righteously. President Kennedy’s actions remind us… Martin Luther King’s actions remind us… Abraham Lincoln’s actions remind us… of the importance to vote righteously.

It is a political race so God will only watch. So choose wisely, my American brothers and sisters your candidate. As I close this speech, may I remind you, voting to imbalance the election is not righteous and may do Americans more harm than good? Moreover, you will have to live the rest of your life knowing you voted righteously or with deceit. The burden of the presidency never has been, just between two men. The burden of the Presidency weights on all Americans, because the votes we cast will chose just one President, with the hope that he will represent just one America with righteousness. May God bless the righteous candidate to prevail so the people will take note to cast their vote for the new President of the United States of America?

Sincerely,

Gocachi/ Marcail Parker

Fighting the E-Smears and Rumors About Barack Obama

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:47:28 EDT

Here are some vital links to factcheck the rumors and e-smears about Barack Obama...

Letters to the editor--Republican smear tactics

Nanci — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:31:44 EDT

I sent this to newspapers using the Obama action site. I did some editing, but this is the essential letter. The site is great, it lets you mail to about 10 newspapers all at once.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have from the start run their campaign trying to smear the reputation of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Palin uses schoolyard tactics of meanness, attack and innuendo then retreats to beauty pageant cuteness. McCain can't really find dirt in Obama's past,so he accuses him of having shady friends and lies about Senator Obama's personal life. This doesn't surprise me-the Republicans have always played on tricks and dirty deals. Lying is part of their strategy, proven one administration after another.

Now we hear the truth about John McCain as a US representative in the Congress (as an adult, not when he was 8 years old!). McCain's economic policy as a Congressman was to play with the Keating Five, bilking the retirement from hard working middle class Americans and participating in a financial crisis that caused the Savings & Loan scandal that saw the fall of Lincoln Savings, triggering the collapse of other savings and loans and the loss of millions of dollars of Americans hard earned money.

He says he regretted that period of his life.What he regrets is being caught. He regrets turning his back on the people he fought for in another unjust and unpopular war some years prior. How long can you base your values on being a POW? Other men were POWs as well. Your life is not one event, it is how you live everyday and the moral choices you make. I ahve observed McCain's ethical stand by the way he has conducted his campaign.

I want a man for President who has the interest of the real Americans in mind, not his own personal gain. I want a maverick who is for the people of America. I am voting for Barack Obama. Think about your choice-it is critical for our future.

Sarah Palin Lies to America and to Herself

Cathie — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:34:28 EDT

I read today that Mrs. Palin has decided to once again demonstrate her character to the American people by telling lies about her opponents. I believe the McCain campaign and it's supporters know they are losing this race and that they will continue to lose votes and are acting out of desperation. I believe the few supporters the McCain campaign has retained will see their candidates for who they really are as they are certainly showing their true colors. To Sarah Palin- Think carefully about the words you choose and use towards your opponents. As a mother, I would never want my children to see their mother saying such horrible untrue things about another person and on national television no less. To John McCain-Please make this race about the issues and salvage your declining reputation while you can. To all Americans-Vote with your heart, this Presidential race is about so much more then just the energy crisis or our declining economy. This election is about Americans partnering with government to create the society we will all benefit and contribute to.

Obama Dream Speech

fredfuller — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:49:48 EDT

Here is a speech I would love to hear Senator Barak Obama deliver:

I need to address a few words concerning the smears and character assassinations being promulgated by Senator McCain and Governor Sarah Palin.

First, better watch your back. Smears and character assassinations can come from me, too. If you continue, I will describe in detail your involvement, Senator McCain, in the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s. You were a member of the Keating Five, and although you were cleared of charges, you still are a member of the Keating Five. I have been cleared on my association with Ayres in fact check after fact check, so back off or I will get deeper into your involvement with Keating.

I would recommend your calling off your attack dog in lipstick because she has some explaining to do, also. Troopergate, which is still viable, firing of a librarian for not censoring books Palin wanted censored, and even though she rehired the librarian, it still shows the governor is a censor. As vice president what will she bowdlerize then?

Much more from Alaska is available, and I will make it famous if you persist.

Finally, Senator McCain, your smears have affected my wife and my little girls. I am thick-skinned and can take it because I know you are lying in most cases, but they are not thick-skinned. No one hurts my family. If you persist, we’ll re-acquaint the American people with how you dumped your first wife for a younger, more beautiful woman when you got back from your stay at the Hanoi Hilton. Carol McCain, your first wife, was broken like a glass doll from a car accident and was no longer the beauty queen you left behind to fight in Vietnam. Don’t force me to talk about your relationship with your present wife while Carol recuperated.

There’s a lot more Senator and you know it and you know I can verify it all unlike your assassinations, which are based on rumor.

Stick to the issues, John. All this offal your dishing out has nothing to do with how the American people will pay their mortgages, pay for health care, pay taxes, or do the myriad other things they need to do. I can help them do it, Senator. Apparently you cannot so you hide in the filth of smears and character assassination.

Right now I’m not angry because I know that politics is a dirty game; I’ve got dirt on me, too, just as all politicians have. But I’m warning you to back off, or I’ll cover you in manure even though I lose the election. You will not do to me what Bush did to John Kerry, and what he did to you, Senator McCain, in 2000.

For your sake and Governor Palin’s sake, do not get me angry. Yes, I am a half black man, and you can accuse me of being an angry black man, but if you do get me angry, you can honestly say you have an angry black man on your tail.

Comparison = Ayers and Keating...

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:10:03 EDT

This blogger's post by Doug Renton, WA is copied from CNN's story on Barack - "Not the First Punch But the Last"

Ayers and Keating are not comparable.

Ayers is a casual acquaintance of Obama. Keating was a close personal friend of McCain who vacationed in the Bahamas together many times.

Ayers helped Obama get started in state politics by hosting a small fundraiser at his house. Keating made contributions to McCain’s senate campaign in excess of $100,000.

Ayers has never used his relationship with Obama to gain political favor. Keating managed to fend off federal banking regulators and auditors thanks in part due to his relationship with senator McCain (one of the Keating Five).

When Ayers was active in the Weathermen, Obama was 8 years old. When Keating’s S&L failed, McCain had already been in the senate for several years, and they were well acquainted.

Ayers was on the same Board of Directors as Obama, for a non-profit agency advocating education issues. Keating was a business partner in a for-profit real estate venture with Cindy McCain and her father.

The charges against Ayers were dropped. Keating was convicted of felony fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy, and he did jail time.

We need more people to blog and write letters against what McSame and Palin are doing to smear Barack. Obama - Biden '08

Republicans Recycle Smear to Change Subject of Failing Economy

Amy Corron Power - Delegate Capt. — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:54:52 EDT

Republicans are sending around another "scare" e-mail that starts out like this....:

"Fw: Fw: Social Security Changes--IMPORTANT

S OCIAL SECURITY CHANGES
It does not matter if you personally like or dislike Bush. You need to sign
this petition and flood his e-mail box=2 0with e-mails that tell him that,
even if the House passes this bill, he needs to veto it. It is already
impossible to live on Social Security alone. If the government gives
benefits to 'illegal' aliens who have never contributed, where does that
leave those of us who have paid into Social Security all our working lives?"

They're sending this out to pull the discussion in American away from the failed policies of Geroge W. Bush and John McCain. They are asking people to sign a "petition." to send to George W. Bush.

If you get one of these e-mails I would suggest a "reply all" with something along the lines of this response:

Social Security Changes and the Keating 5

Don't fall for this partisan trick to keep you from talking about the economy in shambles after 8 years of Republican rule!

Do we have a House or Senate Bill number for this story?

I don't see one here:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_110_2.htm

Because it's the BS distraction and FALSE STORY that was debunked in 2006.

http://www.factcheck.org/article447.html

The Republicans don't want anyone talking about the ECONOMY. They will say anything to distract from the fact that the economy is tanking under the Republican policy that has pushed deregulation for the banking industry. McCain's push for deregulation is what has CAUSED the Savings & Loan meltdown of the 1990s now repeating with the current financial crisis:

http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

The only issue regarding Social Security that should be concern to all Americans is John McCain's promotion of the idea that we should PRIVATIZE Social Security, and allow the FREE MARKET to take care of it. Jack Cafferty on CNN asked of McCain last month: Is privatizing Social Security really a good idea?

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/09/18/cafferty-mocks-mccain-is-privatizing-social-security-really-a-good-idea/

Here are some other analyses of John McCain's plan to privatize Social Security

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain_retirement.cfm

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/17/mccain-social-security/

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-10-26-mccain-huckabee_N.htm

Privitization of financial markets and the housing industry seems to be working quite well, doesn't it.

If you must talk about John McCain and "illegal aliens" why not read an analysis of his past voting records:

Supporting mass amnesty. The May 29, 2003, Tucson Citizen quoted Mr. McCain as stating that "Amnesty has to be an important part of" any immigration solution. He was part of the bipartisan coalition that tried to pass amnesty legislation in 2006 and 2007. In 2006 he voted in favor of S. 2611, legislation that would reward between 10 and 11 million illegals with amnesty if they apply for legal status and pay a $2,000 fine.

Supporting in-state tuition for illegal aliens. Mr. McCain was a cosponsor of S. 774, the Dream Act, providing in-state tuition for illegal aliens. The legislation would have enabled illegal aliens who entered the United States before age 16 to obtain a green card and then use their newly acquired status to obtain green cards for the millions of parents who illegally brought their children with them into the United States. Mr. McCain missed a Senate vote on the issue in October. He said that he would have opposed it on the Senate floor had he been there to vote.

Voted to kill border fence. In 2006, Mr. McCain voted for an amendment to S. 2611 offered by Sen. Arlen Specter to require consultation with the Mexican government concerning the construction of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border. According to Numbers USA, an organization that lobbies against illegal immigration, this amendment would have effectively guaranteed that the border fence was never built.

Voted against permanently barring gang members and terrorists from the United States. Last year, Mr. McCain voted against an amendment (Senate Amendment 1184) introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, that would have permanently barred gang members, terrorists, sex offenders, alien absconders, aliens convicted of domestic violence and aliens convicted of at least three DUIs from the United States. The Cornyn Amendment was rejected on a 51-46 vote.

Voted in favor of Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who commit identity fraud. In 2006. Mr. McCain joined with Mr. Kennedy in working to defeat an amendment by Sen. John Ensign, Nevada Republican, that would have barred Social Security credits for work being done prior to their receiving amnesty — in other words, while working under a false Social Security number. The Ensign Amendment, (Senate Amendment 3985) was defeated on a 50-49 vote.

Don't fall for this partisan trick to keep you from talking about the economy!

Read about Barack Obama's plan here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/mollyclaflinblog/gGxVyf

Time to Fight Back for Barack

N. Julio Barthson - E-Campaign Leader — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:45:53 EDT

We shall not allow Barack Obama to be swiftboated. Not now, not ever!

ENOUGH!

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:20:55 EDT

Here's a copy of a letter I sent through MyBO's Speak Out tool for letter writing to newspapers:

Enough of the McCain/Palin comedy show with all of the lies and smears. They are totally corrupt and have no honor. What would they do if I slammed them with all of McCain’s Keating Five crap from his close association and unholy alliances with Charles Keating and Dennis DeConcini; his ability to constantly cheat on his wives – yes both of them; Cindy McCain’s drug additions and thievery; and McCain the so-called war hero’s disgraceful signed confession and reprehensible corroboration with the Vietnamese; etc?

Ms. Palin also has some “shitnola” on her shoes. She is a constant liar and an airhead who’s not ready for the second highest office in the United States. What about her lies and unethical behavior concerning the Troopergate story – haven’t we had enough nepotism and cronyism in high office? Did her husband the American Traitor, help her run her political positions? Are you tired of hearing about the plane that she says she put on eBay, when we all know that’s only a small line of the whole story = The Republican speaker of the house found a broker and sold the plane to a Republican backer who says the state owes him $50,000 for maintenance fees he had to incur; and what about her high-value earmarks, the bridge to nowhere that she accepted before the funds were cut off, and how about the state that she left Wasilla in, the small town where she was mayor, plagued with over $1.3 million dollars in debt due to her mismanagement of building projects. Snakes that live in glass cages ought not throw stones!

There is no room on the public airwaves for the types of lies that McCain and Palin continue to voice. Their lies violate the most basic standards of political discourse and prove to the electorate that they are not ready for the 21st Century or the office of the United States Presidency. Americans are suffering heavy burdens and pain due to our economy and instead of these clowns trying to develop plans to help get Americans out of this crisis, they are busy with stupid scams and distractions. This is the reason they are loosing this race - we the people have had enough!!!

Obama - Biden '08, Can't Wait!!!

ENOUGH!!!

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 23:49:57 EDT

Here's a copy of a letter I sent through MyBO's Speak Out tool for letter writing:

Fighting the Smears, One Email at a Time

Karen Funk Blocher — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:22:10 EDT

Does this happen to you?

(Has anyone read this blog? Ever? I think I hear crickets!)

I have this friend - well, more of an acquaintance, really, but at least a borderline friend. (Put it this way: she's got my last name wrong in her address book.) We met at work, before the company we both worked for collapsed in the mortgage crisis. She's the sort of person who likes to forward the Joke of the Day, chain letters involving prayers or pictures of flowers or kitties, virtual hugs - you know the drill.

And political claptrap.

Most of the rumors on the Fight the Smears page, I recognize from F.'s email forwards. She's also sent a few that haven't even hit Snopes, let alone the Smears page. One or two of the major smears she's sent on more than once, even after I sent her back the debunking, with the link to the relevant Snopes page. It's as if she accepts forwards completely uncritically and passes them on, but ignores what is said firsthand by someone she actually knows. Or maybe she accepts whatever fits the worldview that has somehow been inculcated in her, and ignores whatever doesn't.

For over a year I've been deleting most of F.'s forwards unread, the jokes and virtual hugs and cutesy graphics. I don't want to offend her and hurt her feelings by asking her to stop sending them. It's only the ones whose subject headers seem to indicate allegedly factual content that I even bother to open. If indeed an email contains some kind of wild claim(s), I then Snopes the darn thing and send back the result, along with a plea that she think about what she's reading and do at least minimal research before she forwards this junk. (I do this with any factually challenged email forward, no matter who sends it.)

I never, ever see a forwarded retraction. I almost never hear back at all. All I get is mailer daemons from a few addresses if I dare to "reply all."

And now I see that there are right-wing rumblings accusing Snopes of pro-Obama bias. Funnily enough, I've also heard at least one person bitterly accuse Snopes of right-wing bias.

A week or two ago, I took my Snopes-based reply tactic a step further. Rather than burden the other recipients of one of these junk emails (this one implied that Obama was the Antichrist), I sent my debunk and my plea for critical thinking to every person listed in the subject headers as having actually forwarded the thing, as far back as the headers went. I think there were literally six degrees of separation between me and the first sender listed. At least I would be reaching some of the people who were actually spreading the lies around, even if they didn't heed me. As usual, there was no reply. Except...about a week later, I got an email directly from (I think) the first person listed on the older forward, linking to an alleged (and of course totally bogus) Obama sex video. This is actually a virus, so presumably this Obama hater now has an infected computer, unless of course she acted on my email warning her of this. Schadenfreude, anyone?

Yesterday, F. sent me two new email forwards. One was a relatively sane but logically flawed attack on Obama as an employer. The other tried to blame all our economic woes on those darn immigrants.

"Fwd: FW: Obama practices gender pay inequity in his Senate Office" uses carefully documented but misleadingly applied statistics to "prove" that Senator Obama as an employer doesn't practice what he preaches on equal pay for equal work, using the fact that many of his top advisers are male to show gender inequity. This leaves out the "for equal work" part of the equation, folks. If a President McCain made more than a VP Palin (and let's make sure this never happens), would that be gender inequity? Heck, no. That would be a pay scale based on the job positions, not on who fills them.

Similarly, if you have, let's say, seven top-paid advisers and only three of them are women, that proves you're a sexist hypocrite, right? Um, actually, no. Nothing short of a strict quota system would ensure that at least 50% of employees at every pay level lack a Y chromosome, regardless of other qualifications. Otherwise, there will always be the possibility that the right person for a given executive job might actually be a man, in more than half of the cases. This is especially true in a relatively small staff, where there aren't hundreds or thousands of employees to make the sample statistically significant, and even out probability. McCain's laudable record on pay scales among his staff shows that he doesn't exclude women from consideration for top posts, and that's a good thing. But his numbers are no more statistically significant than Obama's, and do not prove superiority in his policy or practices toward equal pay for equal work.

The sane and reasonable alternative to strict quotas that ignore qualifications is to choose the best person for the job regardless of gender, and not adjust the salary based on whether the successful candidate is male or female. And if Mr. Jones and Ms. Smith are both hired on a given date to answer phones or screw in a light bulb, they should earn the same wage, and get raises based on identical criteria. That's what "equal pay for equal work" means. Give equally-qualified women and men the same shot at the same job for the same pay, whether as CEO or dogcatcher, and watch the glass ceiling shatter.

The other recent email tries to prove that "$ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR" is spent on illegal aliens in this country, directly or indirectly, based on benefits, education, law enforcement, remittances to other countries and ill-defined lost wages for Americans; and that these costs, not Iraq or Wall Street, outsourcing or the mortgage meltdown, are "what's bankrupting us." I passed that one on to Snopes, because they have nothing like it yet. My gut reaction is that most of the statistics are likely to be news reports featuring people who spout distorted or made-up numbers. Also, it's a logical fallacy to say that if A is a drain on the economy, the unrelated factors B and C must be irrelevant to it, particularly if you don't research B and C's numbers.

This weekend, I decided to risk F.'s annoyance with a new tactic. I sent her an email forward of my own:

Hey F. --

Instead of just forwarding anti-Obama emails that try to scare people on the basis of ethnicity and logical fallacies, creative use of statistics or outright lies, none of which have anything to do with the issues, why not listen to what he actually has to say about the most important issues?

(Canned text follows)

This week, the economic troubles that have long been simmering on Main Street boiled over to Wall Street, putting our entire economy in danger.

Barack Obama laid out a plan to address this crisis and offered strong, practical solutions for American families.

The Obama team put together a short video that speaks to these problems and describes Barack's plan.

Watch the video now:

http://my.barackobama.com/economicplan

Thanks

***

Karen again: from now on, every time I receive an anti-Obama email from you, I will counter it with factual information on what he actually stands for. You deserve to know the truth!

Karen

I'm currently adapting this entry as a reply to the equal pay email.

Will F. read the emails? Will she watch the video? Will it inspire a change in attitude, or just get me kicked off her email forwarding list, which would be more relief than punishment? Stay tuned. Based on my experience to date, it's more than likely that nothing will change.

Karen

Dear Barack Hussein Obama

Mon — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:50:44 EDT

Dear Barack Hussein Obama,

Please do not air commercials in Spanish. I find that offensive. English is our national language. Please stop smearing the McCain campaign with lies. Please renounce the party of lawyers and journalists sent to Alaska to dig dirt up on Sarah Palin. Please also publicly renounce the lies in your TVads about McCain and Palin. I was going to vote for Obama, but not now after all the smears. You've really sunk low. Hypocrite.

What's next TV ads in French for our Canadian friends to appreciate. You promised to run a different campaign than they way politicians usually do. You are an outright disappointment. I don't even believe a word you say anymore.

Inspire us with hope

Candice — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:34:17 EDT

Barack Obama, you changed the tone of the campaign this week. You brought it back to politics and policy. With all of the right policies, you should be winning in the polls.

Now look at the electorate. The stock market is in crisis and the Gulf coast is reeling from Hurricane Ike. We are eager for change, yet catastrophic change is already upon us. Now more than ever, we need our leaders to stand up with a message of hope, and deliver.

Again, I say it: Barack, take the highest of high roads. Right now, be the change you want to see.

You want a campaign free of smears? Praise your opponents.

You want a campaign based on truth? Tell us the truth about you. Your plans. Bring it back to you.

Barach Obama, you inspired a nation during the Democratic convention. You inspired us to believe for so many months. We learned all we could about you. We had the audacity to hope.

Then McCain pulled a rabbit out of his hat and inspired his own base.

You have no more rabbits. We all know your message.

All you can bring us is you.

Inspire us again. Speak only kindness. Focus on helping in Texas, even before the financial markets. Go to Texas. Fix things! Be the hope you talk about! Be the change you promise! Start your presidency of hope and kindness and fairness today. Lead us now! Inspire us again. We need you.

Grassroots Campaign Ads...pass it on!

Crystal — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:16:42 EDT

I got more than a little frustrated with the mainstream media giving the McCain campaign free air time for its commercials, meaning McThug would air the commercial on the web and the media would give free ad time by discussing it. So, I decided to create a few of my own commercials to counter the McCain campaign, but I need your help.

Visit my channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/crtconsu. Review the commercials and suggest ideas for new ones.
Pass it on to your friends. I will try to add a Digg link to get more coverage.
Try it yourself.

Here are links to the individual commercials. There will be more to come.

Hurricane Katrina...Never Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4bWHtx3W0w)
A Real Leader (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw5PTJIWfSw)
Honorable Campaign...Not! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcKHkBwp-0o)

Your help to spread the word is vital and its truly appreciated.

Cheers
Crystal

Beat em at their own nasty game!

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:20:50 EDT

There are a lot of us here that have sharp tonges and hard-hitting ideas on how to smear the republicans in the same manner that they are smear Obama. Those of us who are sick of the trolls coming here to post smut, should copy their messages and repost them on their blogs with a few changes to their statements. We can see whether or not they like the reverse bigoted, racist, nasty, hate-filled messages that they generate! LOL

Obama - Biden '08, Can't Wait!!!

Bible verses about lying

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:44:02 EDT

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

So I tell you this, and insist upon it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

- Ephesians 4:14-25

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is not truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

- John 8:44

But what if someone leads one of these little ones who believe in me to sin? If he does, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be drowned at the bottom of the sea. How terrible it will be for the world because of the things that lead people to sin! Things like that must come. But how terrible for those who cause them!

- Matthew 18:6-7

Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

- John 8:32

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

- Hebrews 10:26-27

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

- I John 1:4-8

Where is the outrage?

Willburg — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:29:32 EDT

Hello Justin,

Thank you for directing me to the group "Beating John McCain".

I am however very disappointed to see that my group was not approved. I think that the group that I was creating had a more specific goal: TO SOMEHOW TRY TO DRIVE HOME THE MESSAGE AND INDEED DIRECTLY TO MR. OBAMA, USING THE TOOLS THAT SENATOR OBAMA HAS GIVING US WITH HIS WEB SITE, THAT THE LOUD CHORUS OF VOICES ON THE STREETS, IN OUR KITCHENS, IN OUR LIVING ROOMS, IN THE OFFICE, ON THE RADIO; "AIR AMERICA", ON THE INTERNET; "THE HUFFINGTON POST", TPM, ON T.V. AND IN NUMEROUS NEWS PAPERS ARE CLAMORING FOR SENATOR OBAMA TO COME DOWN FROM WHEREVER HE IS, ROLL UP HIS SLEEVES AND START THROWING SOME SERIOUS PUNCHES BACK AT THE OPPONENTS.

Am I clear? Look Senator Biden has now been drowned and he was supposed to be the attack dog for the Obama campaign? Where is he? Just the other day he said that perhaps Hillary was the better candidate for the Vice-presidency. Hello? Is this what he needs to be telling people?

Is this the best that we can do? Me. Obama owes to fight for the the millions of his supporters. He needs to fight back for us! If he does not fight back for himself how on earth are we going to expect him to fight back for us? Have you NOT guys learned from the Gore and Kerry debacles?

My God. Governor Palin goes about the country telling lies and Mr. Obama just smiles???? She delivered one of the most vicious political speeches at any convention ever and Mr. Obama goes on national television and says that worst things have been hurdled at him in the basketball court????? Senator Biden even praised her speech? What are we? Enablers?

So if you actually take the time to read this, and please forgive my grammar as I type this fast and furiously so I can make my meeting in time, and if you are in a position to forward this to the right people please do. This email is nothing but one of million of opinions going on right now.

And one more thing......Mr. Obama also needs to fight not only for those that supported him but also for those that he intends to attract and for the rest of the Democrats that did not support them......18 million Hillary Clinto's backers.

THAT'S WHY I WANTED TO CREATE THE "WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?" group. To rally the grass roots supporters to speak up and urge Mr. Obama to stop playing nice. Arianna Huffington already did it on her site........Was enybody paying attention over at the Obama camp?

I love Mr. Obama. He needs to fight!!!!

Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Steven from Norman, OK — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:40:56 EDT

McCain has resorted to lying, outright and bold-faced. Here's the text of an email sent to McCain supporters:

Friends,

You've surely seen the shameful attacks Senator Obama and his liberal allies have launched against our vice presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin.

Even before our national convention, the Obama campaign dispatched what The Wall Street Journal called a "mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers" to Alaska to dig up dirt for their personal attacks on Governor Palin and her family. FactCheck.org has called the attacks on Governor Palin, "completely false" and "misleading." However, the Obama Democrats continue to launch these attacks, hoping you'll never find out the truth.

These misleading, offensive attacks must be stopped. That's why we're asking you to follow this link immediately to give any amount you can afford - whether it's $25 or $250 - to McCain-Palin Victory 2008, a joint committee we have formed to ensure we can respond to these shameful attacks and elect our reform ticket from top to bottom on Election Day.

We are rapidly responding to the Obama Democrats' attacks on Governor Palin and you can help by following this link right now to give $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to McCain-Palin Victory 2008.

Your support is critical to our Party's effort in exposing these false attacks. Thank you.

Sincerely,
The McCain-Palin Victory 2008 Team

P.S. If you are offended by the outrageous attacks on Governor Sarah Palin from the Obama campaign and their liberal allies, we urge you to follow this link immediately. The McCain-Palin Victory 2008 committee is working day and night to elect our reform ticket and reject these false attacks. Please show your support with a generous donation. Thank you.

And here is Factcheck.org's response:

McCain-Palin Distorts Our FindingSeptember 10, 2008Those attacks on Palin that we debunked didn't come from Obama.SummaryA McCain-Palin ad has FactCheck.org calling Obama's attacks on Palin "absolutely false" and "misleading." That's what we said, but it wasn't about Obama.

Our article criticized anonymous e-mail falsehoods and bogus claims about Palin posted around the Internet. We have no evidence that any of the claims we found to be false came from the Obama campaign.

The McCain-Palin ad also twists a quote from a Wall Street Journal columnist. He said the Obama camp had sent a team to Alaska to "dig into her record and background." The ad quotes the WSJ as saying the team was sent to "dig dirt."

Update, Sept. 10: Furthermore, the Obama campaign insists that no researchers have been sent to Alaska and that the Journal owes them a correction.AnalysisWe don't object to people reprinting our articles. In fact, our copyright policy encourages it. But we've also asked that "the editorial integrity of the article be preserved" and told those who use our items that "you should not edit the original in such a way as to alter the message."

Less Than Honest

With its latest ad, released Sept. 10, the McCain-Palin campaign has altered our message in a fashion we consider less than honest. The ad strives to convey the message that FactCheck.org said "completely false" attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin had come from Sen. Barack Obama. We said no such thing. We have yet to dispute any claim from the Obama campaign about Palin.

They call the ad "Fact Check." It says "the attacks on Gov. Palin have been called 'completely false' ... 'misleading.' " On screen is a still photo of a grim-faced Obama. Our words are accurately quoted, but they had nothing to do with Obama.

Our article, posted two days earlier, debunked a number of false or misleading claims that have circulated in chain e-mails and Internet postings regarding Palin. There is no evidence that the Obama campaign is behind any of the wild accusations that we critiqued. There is no more basis for attributing these viral attacks to the Obama campaign than there is for blaming the McCain campaign for chain e-mail attacks falsely claiming that Obama is a Muslim, or a "racist," or that he is proposing to tax water. The anti-Palin messages, like the anti-Obama messages, have every appearance of being home-grown.

Digging for "Dirt"

The ad also quotes the Wall Street Journal as saying that the Obama campaign "air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers to dig dirt on Governor Palin." That's also a distortion. The Wall Street Journal opinion article did not say that the Obama team was there to "dig dirt." It said they were there do "dig into her record and background." Maybe the McCain-Palin campaign knows something we don't about what's in Palin's record and background.

The full quote, from an item by conservative columnist John Fund, dated Sept. 9:

WSJ's John Fund, Sept. 9: Democrats have airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers into Anchorage, the state capital Juneau and Mrs. Palin's hometown of Wasilla to dig into her record and background. My sources report the first wave arrived in Anchorage less than 24 hours after John McCain selected her on August 29.

Fund said the opposition researchers were mainly interested in a controversy surrounding Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. Monegan has claimed he was dismissed because he wouldn't fire a state trooper who was in a divorce battle with Palin's sister; the Alaska Legislature is investigating whether Palin acted properly. Fund also stated that the Palin family has accused the trooper of "using a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson, drinking in his patrol car and illegally shooting a moose."

Now, that's "dirt."

Update, Sept. 10: After this article was posted, the Obama campaign contacted us to say that John Fund's article is wrong.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor, Sept. 10: John Fund's claim that we "air-dropped" 30 lawyers into Alaska is false. No one from the Obama campaign or the DNC has been sent to Alaska. We've asked Mr. Fund for a correction.

Footnote: At least one Obama spokesman has repeated an allegation that we debunked in our story, that Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan. However, the Obama campaign was not the originator of the claim.

–by Brooks Jackson

Are we alone? Where are all of our Democratic Leaders?

James — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:20:05 EDT

Can someone please tell me where the Democratic leadership is, or what they are doing? With the constant attacks, lies and "swift-boating" taking place against Barack Obama, why aren't they stepping forward to help fight back and deflect the heat away, so that he can press OUR agenda by talking about the issues?

Where are our Democratic Governors, State and Federal Congressional leaders and the Democratic pundits? If they don't stand up with us and Barack, we will be fighting a battle that shouldn't need to be fought and is causing us to loose gains we've fought hard for to this point.

We have some very intelligent Democratic leaders and I don't understand why they aren't speaking out against all the lies and distortions. It reminds me of Kerry/Edwards all over again.

Write, phone or e-mail your Democratic leaders and ask them to step up to the plate.

IT'S MY PARTY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO

Kaz — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:43:07 EDT

"The republicans win by throwing the first punch. They win by not being defensive. And they win by not punching back. They always start the attack, and follow it up until you cry uncle and admit defeat. They don't get in a defensive posture, mainly because one has to be attacked first in order to defend ones self. And they certainly never go over and over and over what their opponent's talking points are in a whiny, silly attempt to defend ones self!"

"Go, OBAMA, go!! Take them down with those one liner's your so good at. Why does your opponent keep attacking you? Because it works. They win the news cycle and make you look weak because now you have to defend yourself or come off as looking weak. Where are those brilliant come backs? Those one liners that shut them up and make them look stupid! To win the news cycle is to win the day!!"

The first time we lost to Bush was an outrage. They lied and cheated and stole and WON.

The second time we lost to Bush was ridiculous, to know that that many people actually voted for Bush and not Kerry. It was absurd. It was a time of great cynicism in politics and America and the future.

The third time we lose to Bush? I will be so angry at the Democrats for being given the white house on a silver platter. And still losing. I was angry the first two times. Every time I hear about some Republican outrage ( Iraq, Iran, the constitution, the federal corporate bail outs, the lies and indifference about the economy, etc., etc.) I get more cynical and disillusioned. Are there really that many people in this country that don't know a terrorist from a Muslim?

To put salt on the wound is the fact that we now know that they stole the 2000 election. We now know they sanctioned torture. We know that there were no weapons of mass destruction and THERE NEVER WERE. We know that Carl Rove and Cheney bullied the press into passively going along with their outing of Valerie Plame. We know that they wiretapped us illegally. And WE let them. So whose to blame for the sad state of affairs? And we seriously wonder why there are so many disenchanted, apathetic youth in this country? Maybe because they see Republicans lying and us Democrats hoping that if we fight for what is right, that people will be drawn and inspired to us. UM...newsflash! This is not working!

Democrats, heck even Republicans are angry at the way this country has been mishandled. We're frustrated.

It's time to teach the world how to win the good fight. Democrats say, don't attack a woman, it's un presidential for the presidential candidate to go after the vice president, people are tired of division and scare tactics. Well, have fun losing another election to a bunch of lying thugs.

Why is it wrong to expose Republicans of all their wrong doing? Why do we think that we can beat them on the issues when the average American on the street doesn't know what Obama's stance on taxes is? Why do we stubbornly stick to the issues and only the issues when no one listens? Have these last eight years really taught us that little? We are tired and angry and fed up. We have not waited this long to see another gentlemanly debate about issues. We want to see them sweat. Heck, after all the money the campaign has raised, you owe it to your supporters to at least go down swinging. This is not some academic historical exercise.

So what do I suggest? Change the topic, please!! Before it's too late. Make this campaign about their failures, not personal attacks, or underhanded viciousness. There are a bazillion ways to show the Republicans' mistakes in a honest, straightforward, no nonsense way. Barak did it during his convention speech. The crowd loved it when he took a punch. It was a punch for all of us who have had to simmer on the sidelines. And it felt good! The crowd loved it. The press loved it.

How is this election going to be won? By who wins the news cycle. Their attacks are going to get more vicious because the press and public are loving it. And they have always worked. Always.

Go, OBAMA, go!! Take them down with those one liner's your so good at. Why does your opponent keep attacking you? Because it works. They win the news cycle and make you look weak because now you have to defend yourself or come off as looking weak. Where are those brilliant come backs? Those one liners that shut them up and make them look stupid! To win the news cycle is to win the day!!

The republicans win by throwing the first punch. They win by not being defensive. And they win by not punching back. They always start the attack, and follow it up until you cry uncle and admit defeat. They don't get in a defensive posture, mainly because one has to be attacked first in order to defend ones self. And they certainly never go over and over and over what their opponent's talking points are in a whiny, silly attempt to defend ones self!

Oh, and don't underestimate Palin's ability to hold her own in a debate or interview. She can't be worse than Bush and he beat Gore AND Kerry.

John McCain is Unfit to Be President

Richard in Toronto - Still American After All These Years — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:01:15 EDT

John McCain is unfit to be president. His heroic resistance to torture has been amply awarded with more medals than he ever flew missions and the fact remains he lost 5 aircraft and graduated 5th from the bottom of his class at Annapolis.

Hey Muslim Rumors!

stillonline — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:19:01 EDT

Answer to the hateful rumors:

"I am not Muslim, but I respect all people of faith. And....by the way...I take exception to all those who would use religion as an excuse for brutality. Those who attacked us on 9/11 were not being true the the teachings of the Muhammad. Just as those who supported slavery were misreading the teachings of Christ. Even in this country, today, we have people who profess to be people of faith and yet they do not practice what they preach. My own faith has been tested recently. The man who brought me to Jesus, has said things that betray everything I believe in. Everything I thought he believed in. More recently, another man of God, misrepresented himself in a way that I find very troubling. But my faith is strong in spite of the disappointments. We were never promised that the path would be smooth. I believe that religion should be a force that unites us for the greater good. Helps us to find common ground. Helps to lift us up rather than tear each other down. We must reject the religious extremist of all faiths and reach out to the moderate leaders of the world to work together to solve our problems. Because of my background, I feel that I am uniquely qualified to do that.
Amen. Thank you Jesus!"

OK...I give up....The Dems have not learned anything

Ronald from Cheyenne, WY — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:43:52 EDT

Logical logical logical....but the fake polls are showing a dead even race...so what's going on?PLEASE LISTEN TO ME:

Analysis: Sen McCain - High Energy - Lots of Viewers

McCain is running on energy and lies with empty statements with no data to back up his claims.

The results: His Poll numbers goes up

Analysis: Sen Obama - Low to Moderate Energy - Minimal TV Coverage

Sen Obama runs on Truth and logic and have great data and explains it in detail.

Results: Fake Polls numbers decrease

Solution: Bring back the rock star. Have events such as conventions in stadiums (HS etc). Use your Hollywood base

McCain for Secretery of Defense?

Michael Oakes — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:56:55 EDT

Hi ,I had a response from family concerning the smears they had forwarded me, with one line and more anonymous e-mails attached.No mention of the phony smear e-mail you were so aghast at last time?No mention of the Bridge to no where lies?No mention on the lies about Sen. Obama's lack legislative achievements?No mention of her record as mayor: political firings, banning books, hiring lobbyists to bring in earmarks, and sending that town of 8-10,000 into $20 million in debt?Just another e-mail circulating with no name or source, which looks like more of the non-stop stream of fake e-mails the Right Wing keeps circulating. This one, to put the best spin possible on her actions. Of course it could be real- in which case it was not created but selected to put the best spin on her. If real, all it shows that one or two admitted Republican's who bash all Democrats as corrupt, got to chat with her and like her. Is this a surprise? Now, the details of this case are yet to come out. The Trooper may be bad news, but he deserves a hearing. Was the commissioner who refused to fire him without due process also deserving of being fired without due process? Well there is an ongoing investigation to find out. The Republican's are now trying to squash it. Is the Legislator running the investigation also corrupt? We don't know, but as the anonymous writer slanders all Democrats, we can't blindly accept his biased opinion. Was the Librarian who refused to ban books in Wasilla, and the Police chief, and other officials in that small town also deserving of being summarily fired or threatened with it? Well two of them sued her and one won, so we can likely say, not all of them. The point here is we really don't know her. She may have some good and some bad in her short record. Let's look at what actual facts come out in the wash. However, what we do know is that someone is spreading rumors, lies, and gossip as fact. I suggest we rely on legitimate news sources like the Newsweek fact check I sent you. Check out the Fact-check on Obama's web site, and follow them back to their legitimate sources, rather than taking in every anonymous e-mail as fact, whether it exonerates the Republicans or smears the Democrats. What troubles me for our country is the lack of concern for years evidence of serious corruption in the Bush Administration, which even McCain alluded to, though did nothing about. Election fraud, manipulation of intelligence to promote an illegal war, corporate corruption with Cheney's company, Halliburton, ripping off our military in time of war, and Bush's buddies at Enron nearly bankrupting our state, and destroying the lives of their own employees. Illegal spying, detention, and torture of innocents. Killing of civilians. 1.2 million dead, and 4 million refugees in an unnecessary war. Ignoring the overwhelming worldwide Scientific consensus, and refusing to follow much less lead the rest of the world in averting the disasters of Climate Change for our children. Corruption certainly seems to be in the eye of the beholder. But what can you behold in the posture of an ostrich? From most Republican's I've witnessed a "See no evil" attitude toward their own, and a self-serving credulity and shameless rumore mongering toward Democrates. Coupled with and a disdane for our free press and science, it poisons our civic discourse and undermines our democracy.But all these years you have refused to even watch V.P. Al Gore's Academy Award and Nobel Peace Prize winning documentary on the science of Global Warming, or Michael Moore's Oscar winning documentaries, because you said they were biased. Yet you'll watch Fox News, without knowing who and what its owner, Rupert Murdock is. You'll read and accept books published by the most discredited right wing smear artist. And you accept and pass on demonstrably false rumors, gossip, lies, and smears from fake and anonymous e-mails. Surely, this is biased.The last thing I want to note about the GOP convention, was the paucity of policy. The lions share of all the speeches were about John McCain's biography, with a heavy emphasis on his military family background and mostly his time as a POW. Solid policies were also sorely lacking in Palin's speech. Other than "drill baby drill", they said very little. The overall effect was emotional. The message seemed to be, we deserve to be in office because of our personal stories, not our wise leadership, sound judgment, and well thought out policies. The tone of all but McCain's speech was very sarcastic, derisive and divisive for our country; it was the same old appeal to culture wars that goes back to the '60's, and the Red bating of the "50's. The facts were spun, distorted, and ignored to amp up the emotional attack. And the overwhelming emphasis on military service and personal suffering, and the lack of concrete, comprehensive policies on the major issues of our day made me think he was running for Secretary of Defense, or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, rather than President. Commander in Chief is only one role our President must play. And he does not plan the strategy and tactics of our wars; that's what our great military does. The civilian authority decides when and where to use our military might - judgment which John McCain, and even more so Sarah Palin, have not demonstrated, and Sen Obama has. The President must exercise skill in diplomatic, economic, intellectual and moral leadership; everything I've seen demonstrates Sen. Obama can do all that, and Sen. McCain can not. Now you might bridle at least at the moral leadership; but when you support a bloody illegal war and never discuss the human and economic costs, when you support torture (as McCain ended up doing after initial resistance), when your instincts are to bomb our way to peace, no matter how patriotic you may feel, you only tarnish the reputation of America as a beacon of justice. Who would make a better war lord? Perhaps Sen. McCain. Who will make better policy and a better President. Definitely Sen. Obama. Who is the more known and qualified V.P., definitely Sen. Biden. That's my considered opinion.I know you may differ on all this, but at least let us differ honestly, base on the facts and not on lies, innuendo, and rhetoric. We owe that to our country.Love,Michael Oakes

-----Original Message-----
Subject: FW: Sarah Palin comments from people who know her

Abuse of Power maybe in the eyes of the beholders…… Sarah Palin First, comments by a political cynic and Second, those of a Palin relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate And from a Alaska man who is a very serious cynic about all things political here is my take on Sara.I met and spoke with Sara Palin about two years ago at our downtown Park Strip. It is a place for walking, carnivals, political outdoor things and such. She was cooking hotdogs at a fund raiser and introducing herself to the public as a Governor hopeful.She came by and said the usual "Hi, I'm Sara Palin and I am running for Governor"...and I expected her to keep on to the next person but she asked me who I was and what I did in Alaska and we ended up talking for 15 minutes about me, Air America (she was all agog!) and my career in the Army and AAM. She is a pilot (Super Cub) I'm told although all she told me about that was that she loved flying.As I watched her over the next six months as she successfully ran for Governor I was really impressed. I was impressed greatly even before that after she resigned a good position (Alaska Gas and Oil Regulatory Commission) because a fellow Commission member (Chair of the Alaska Republican Party) misused their office and position. He was using the FAX, computers, printing room and all to promote the Republican endeavors while in a State job. That is a huge no-no in any government employment position.She resigned and made her point and within weeks Randy Ruderich (the above bad guy) found his ass out on the street and a subsequent investigation found him guilty and he was fined $12,000. Small change actually but a giant point was made.Next she went after our most horrible Governor ever, Governor Murkowski, and damned if she didn't beat him! All of us here in Alaska , except the Democrats, are sick of our State's corruption. That fact was shouted to the heavens after she was elected with an overwhelming point spread.After she got into office she started after corrupt legislators and with the FBI's help we've put four of them in prison, indicted six more and the "Corrupt Bastard's Club" as they arrogantly called themselves (even had hats made with CBC on the front!) suddenly found it no fun anymore. Club membership is now in the toilet!!The current flap which has cost her a ten point loss of popularity (she's still 82%!) was over firing a popular Commissioner of Public Safety who is responsible for our Alaska State Troopers. She fired him for no STATED reason which was her prerogative as the Gov. He served entirely at her option. She and her whole family had a bad, bad experience with a rogue Trooper who was married to Sara's sister. His name is Trooper Wooten. This dimwit Trooper had threatened Sara's father (death threat!), threatened Sara ("I'll get you too"), tasered his 12 year old stepson, drove drunk in his AST cruiser, got a pass by a fellow Trooper who stopped him for erratic driving a second time while in civvies and just a host of other things not yet released to the public. He got away with it and got another pass by the Commissioner's appointed AST Trooper Internal Affairs investigator with a tiny slap on the wrist. Five days off without pay to be exact!!This maverick Trooper is still on the payroll but only just. The Union intervening saved his malcontent ass. He'll yet get his I'm sure. Incredible heat is being heaped on the Troopers. Public heat, not the Governors office.The Democrats had the audacity to appoint a obviously biased investigator, Rep. "Gunny" French (so called because he lied about being in the USMC while running for the Legislature) is a staunch liberal and under the orders of Senate President Lyda Green who hates Sara. She hates Sara because after being elected Governor Sara told the whole Legislature in one of her first meetings with them that, quote; "All of you here need some Adult Supervision!!!". Sara was seriously pissed and not afraid of anyone there.That played wonderfully well with Alaskan's after all of our corruption and after all of her successful battles against a seriously entrenched corrupt government here in Alaska . It pissed off the whole Legislature though! They have stayed pissed but also afraid of her because of her popularity.She reminds me personally of our Alaska wolverine which will fight anything in it's path if it see's fit to do so. No respect at all for size or position. Wife Cindy is in this category too. Unfortunately.In closing I must tell you that she is the best, most moral and most focused leader I've seen since President Reagan. I feel, really strongly, that like Alaska the rest of our country will love her within a few weeks. Put simply, she represents middle America like NO leader we've ever had. I think McCain made a totally brilliant move in choosing her. She's a maverick who is probably tougher and more focused than McCain himself....and she won't be a total "Yes Man" or more appropriately, woman. McCain will love her.In 2012 she will be President.My best to all of you in the hurricane belt. I hope you are all OK. We just had another mini Air America reunion here in beautiful Soldotna , Alaska along the Kenai river. Milt Olson, Mike Seal and Ernie Brace (McCains POW buddy) were all here. Ernie's wife, Nancy, is a class act and a wonderful gal. I wish you'd come up and see us. We'll be doing this every year now I guess. Like our Flying Tiger pal's before us there are not that many Air America guys left. I'm 71 myself this September 16. Where the hell did the years go so fast?My best to you old buddy.Semper Fi from the friend of a friend A relative that lives in Alaska gives us her feelings toward McCain's running mate.We were excited to hear Sarah was McCain's choice.... She is an awesome candidate.... She has proven herself a strong leader in AK and Alaska girls are pretty tough.... Around here their favorite bumper sticker is that " Alaska Girls Kick Ass" and they aren't kidding....Sarah is known for being "common folk" ... she refused her security detail, and picks up her own dry-cleaning. She lives in her own home instead of the Governor's mansion so her kids can go to their regular schools.... He husband is an Alaska Native (Indian) her kids are named after Alaska things... "Trap" is the oldest, Bristol (Bristol bay), Willow and baby Paxon are named for places, and Piper for an airplane (AK's primary transportation) She and her husband Tod still net salmon commercially during the fishing season, and she is an avid hunter, and respects the state's traditions...One of the favorite recent stories concerns the birth of her last baby... She was scheduled to speak at a big conference of Governors in the Southwest and shortly before going on stage her water broke, and she went into labor with her 5th child... She still gave the speech which was 20 minutes long and no one knew she was in labor... she was then whisked to a plane and flew back to AK because she said it just wouldn't do for the Gov. of AK to have her baby out of state!She is also a strong leader, and managed to push through a LNG pipeline contract that the men had been talking about for 20 years without action and she has only been Governor for 2 years.... She has given the good old boys a run for their money, in a state where politics are pretty rough.... She has cut spending, and believes that the PEOPLE own the resources and not the government... remember AK has no income tax, and we actually get paid to live here.... this year we will get about $3300 apiece to compensate for gas prices and our usual share of government oil revenue... She is smart, practical and Real! She also cleans up well and has a good sense of decorum in addition to speaking well and being comfortable in crowds.... Overall we are thrilled by this choice and optimistic that the McCain/Palin ticket will bring the change that the country needs... Can you tell we approve?

A dog w/lipstick & POW = Change???

Kristine — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:01:26 EDT

I am not voting for a dog with red lipstick and a guy who hung on a meat hook to run the country.

With that being said, why is the McSame campaign suddenly using Baracks slogan "CHANGE" as his message? The guy has been in Washington for many years, and he has a sudden epifamy to CHANGE the way Washington has done business?

If family is suppose to stay out of the campaign, then why was it OK for the REPUBLICANS to bash Michelle Obama? If Obama's daughters became pregnant, Baracks campaign would be over. If Joe Biden was under investigation for "abuse of power" the day Barack released his choice, his campaign would be over. There is a very blatant "double standard" going on right in front of us, and it all smells like racism to me.

Bristols "baby-father's" body language screams "get me outta here". It is quite evident that Mz. Palin is forcing this marriage. She condones "abstinence", but failed to get that message through in her own home. His MYSPACE page was suddenly "removed"? Bristols "baby-father" clearly wrote on his MYSPACE page "I DO NOT WANT KIDS". Sarah Palin is selfish and controls everything for the sake of herself. She does not put her family first, so how can she put our "COUNTRY FIRST?"

Neither John McCain nor Sarah Palin ever used the words "middle-class", education, economy or Iraq in their speeches. They have neither substance or issues at heart. It is a campaign purely based on attempted smearing of Senator Obama....and it all stinks like dog feces.....with lipstick~

Swiftboating 2.0 and how to stop it | Media Matters

Curtis — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:27:58 EDT

Swiftboating

Swiftboating 2.0

The thematic structure of the right-wing smear campaign against Sen. Barack Obama

I'm sure you've heard some of the many lies about Sen. Barack Obama that have been circulating over the last year or so, both online and in the mainstream media. The truth is that Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim; he was born in the United States; he doesn't refuse to recite the Pledge of Allegiance; he wasn't endorsed by Fidel Castro; the list goes on and on. While many of the attacks on Obama are outright lies, other attacks are outrageous distortions with just a kernel of truth at their core.

Many of these right-wing attacks have been spread in emails and reported in the echo chamber that is the mainstream media. While they may seem disconnected, the truth is that these attacks work together, like separate voices combining to form a chorus of fear and resentment. The claims that Obama is a Muslim or somehow foreign; that he represents a black radicalism more at home in the 1960s than today; and that he is a liberal elitist with a radical, even socialist agenda work to reinforce an overarching narrative that Obama is alien and threatening -- that he is "not one of us."

Click here to see how the right-wing narrative is being tailored to make you think Obama is "not one of us."

We saw what happened when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth unleashed their dossier of lies about Sen. John Kerry in 2004 -- lies that were repeated ad nauseam in the media. We call the 2008 version "Swiftboating 2.0" not only because it is the latest model of a political smear campaign, but also because it shares features of "Web 2.0" sites like Facebook and MySpace, where significant portions of the content are generated by ordinary people and are spread from peer to peer

You can fight back using the same channels of information. Share our graphic illustrating the smears about Obama on Facebook, post it on your MySpace page, talk to your friends and family about the information contained at mediamattersaction.org/swiftboating to fight the lies. When you see or hear media figures repeating these smears, call or send them an email to let them know you're watching and that they got it wrong.

You can start right now by forwarding this email to your friends and family. The only way to keep this round of Swiftboating from succeeding is for everyone who knows the truth to stand up for media accountability and stop the smears.

Paul Waldman
Senior Fellow
Media Matters Action Network

An Idea to Stop the Smears

Gina Patterson — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:45:38 EDT

I just sent the following message to Senator Obama's campaign website. If you think it's a good idea, please contact the website, too. I'm also going to contact MoveOn.org.

...

Hi,

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I know how busy the campaign is. I normally don't do this, but I think I have a simple idea that could stop the smears against Obama.

The idea is this. Average people can stop the smears against Obama by creating their own video campaign on YouTube.

All people would need to do is take videos of themselves, using their camera phones.

Imagine an ad on YouTube that says:

"Senator McCain, you have told us all about what you feel Senator Obama can't do. Tell us, what can YOU do?"

The key is to:
1. Keep it short.
2. Stick to the facts.
3. Directly address Senator McCain, asking for answers.

People WILL watch these on YouTube, especially if they're all over the place. Eventually, the news stations will report on it. And then, McCain gets called out by the ordinary Americans he says he's so "in touch" with.

And the thing is, since Senator Obama is sticking to the issues and the facts--and Senator McCain isn't--McCain tactics will be (respectfully) exposed.

It's one thing for you all to talk about the facts of McCain's campaign. It's quite another for average folks to do it.

People tune out obvious campaign commercials. They won't tune out real people.

You all could make it considerably easier, because we could just text the videos to you--and you could screen them and publish them on YouTube.

I'd be happy to help in any way I can. I'm a freelance editor, so my time is my own. Let me know; I'm willing to help.

I believe in Obama. I also believe that average people should be able to make their voices heard. I believe that politicians should have the respect for their voters to talk about ISSUES--not rely on smears to gt elected.

I really think this could work. It would stop the smears and put all the negative attention back where it belongs.

Thank you, again, for your time.

Sincerely,
Gina Patterson

discussion with republicans

Elisa — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:49:50 EDT

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=386306382

I have a blog on MySpace. I attach emails with republican family members. I hope you can access it.

THE SUITOR

push pin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:49:45 EDT

My son and I were talking politics one night, discussing Barack Obama’s campaign for President, when he revealed that he had broken up with his girlfriend. It was pretty painful for him, his first relationship that seemed to have depth and serious potential, touching on love. They’re only 21, barely at the beginning of their life journeys, and there is so much more to learn. I advised him that this blow was just one of life’s lessons: Youth and the confusing interplay of love and lust, passion and compassion, friendship and companionship. They had been close for only a few months, but at their age time is fleeting and emotions run high. My suggestion was that this experience would help him grow.

Always in the background of a new relationship is the echo of a hope that this is real, serious, and will last forever. Youth is impatient for forever, not realizing that life will be full of brief encounters, with many disappointments and surprising satisfaction.

We talk politics fairly often. He's been pursuing an English major with a minor in political science and he has some pretty strong opinions, especially on international affairs. We’re both big Obama fans, and on this night the subject was Barack’s struggle for acceptance among voters who are ready to believe the worst about him. Our candidate often declares his wholehearted love and admiration for America and his readiness to take on the awesome responsibility of leadership. Yet his critics paint him as shallow and pretentious at best, traitorous at worst, sowing the suspicion that he doesn’t really honor America.

Our greatest frustration with this campaign is the ease in which Barack Obama is cast as alien and suspect. How many times does he have to loudly, bluntly declare, “This is the greatest nation on Earth; nowhere else could a story like mine even be possible”, “This country is not perfect, but it is perfectible”, “It’s not about me; it’s about us; together, we can solve the momentous problems that we face”, before the mass of Americans take him at his word? The mere hint that he has a secret intent or hidden motive injures him. As in any courtship, whispers of doubt can be deadly.

My son needs conversation above the level of gossip and trivia, and his girlfriend was good for that. But more then that, he says the attraction was based on the idea that they could help each other achieve their respective dreams. Yang and Yin. What one lacks, the other provides. Like Obama’s petition to American voters, my son tried to convince her that, together, they could achieve great things. But, as he came to learn, suspicion can destroy a budding relationship.

I tried to encourage him by pointing out that his attitude showed a distinct level of maturity. It’s frustrating, I told him, but love is not the initial goal. It’s the final one. The more immediate task in any relationship is the establishment of trust, each convincing the other that vulnerability will never be taken advantage of. If there’s a wound, bandage it. If there’s an offense, forgive it. If there’s a fear, set it aside….

Obama’s critics insist that he’s a fake and a poser, unworthy of America’s affection. He’s a self-important egoist, they say, who’s only in this for the sake of power and prestige; that it’s really only about him. Entire books are published with the aim of impugning his character from every angle. They don’t want him to win us over because they say his intentions are bad, even suggesting he plans betrayal. His goal is not the nation’s welfare, but her destruction. Some, of course, subtly suggest that a person of his complexion simply shouldn’t be allowed into the family. He’s not “one of us”.

My son discovered that his attempts to understand and appreciate his girl’s strengths and wishes were rejected out of suspicion for their motives. The more he informed himself in the areas that interested her, the more she drew back. As he tried to get close to her feelings, and reveal his own, she became guarded. He says she worries that she’s incapable of intimacy, and feels awkward in social situations. He’s sociable, open with his emotions, and he wanted to help her out of her shell. There was a fear to be overcome, and he thought he could help her beat it.

But he couldn’t gain her trust and his first brush with love came to an end. I told him not to be discouraged. There will be others, perhaps even another opportunity with this young lady who briefly captured his heart.

This may not be true for America, however. Obama’s candidacy might be her best opportunity to break from the fears that hold her back. Reservations are justified, of course. He is, after all, just a man, a human being with the flaws and weaknesses of any human being. But the nobility of his manner and his aspirations for this great nation are worthy of acceptance. Obama’s unique quality is his willingness to address the American electorate as a mature audience. It can’t be overlooked that a candidate of his caliber doesn’t come along often. Like the girl my son was courting, it will be necessary for America to set aside her fears if this relationship is to bloom.

Barack Obama is wooing America. He says he loves and respects her right down to the core of his soul. The guy doesn’t claim to be perfect; he only claims to care. He seeks a partnership where everyone wins in the struggle for social progress. He’s willing and able, he says, to lead her out of the well of doubt and insecurity, to help her be the best she can be.

It’s something of a consensus in world and national opinion that the leadership blunders and misshapen policies of the last eight years, and the divisive, deceitful political methodology of the last 40, has made a mockery of American ideals. From pre-emptive war and the acceptance of torture to the damaging excesses of deregulation, our country is said to be going in the wrong direction. A fine example is the observation from Obama’s opponent that, “In the 21st Century, countries don’t invade other countries”. This doesn’t jibe well with Senator McCain’s support for the invasion of Iraq, but it should be noted that this is one of the unvoiced goals of the liberal democracy evolving from our Constitution: Abolishing the scourge of war. It’s a civilized idea, hardly attainable in the short run, but which abides at the heart of a political system founded on “certain inalienable rights”. It's one of the many inherent ideals of a government “of the People, by the People, and for the People”.

The United States has a special destiny in human affairs, carrying the torch of “Liberty and Justice for All” into the future. Perhaps the responsibility of living up to that destiny is what we fear. Denouncing torture and refusing to take part supposedly makes us vulnerable. Restrictions on corporate enterprise supposedly make us weak. I say the failure of law to protect the powerless from the potential depredations of government and commerce is far worse. It may take centuries to find the right balance in order to attain such idealistic goals, but ABANDONING THEM IS NOT AN OPTION.

Obama partisans have been characterized lately as “love struck teenagers”, enamored of a shallow celebrity. But this is not love for most of us, at least not yet. It is merely hope that America can chose a leader who will bring her through a crisis of confidence, as did Washington, Lincoln and FDR.

Supporters might consider how this campaign is a courtship. Voters need to be convinced that this man is worthy of their trust, that he does indeed hold their best interests in his heart. If it leads to betrothal in November and “I do” in January, America, in my humble opinion, will have made a wise choice. Judging from Obama’s obvious show of intellectual heft and tactical smarts, we can hope that the issue from such a union will, over the years, include a renaissance of reason, spiritual maturity and peace in the household.

It has been famously argued that no one can be fully prepared for the awesome task of the American Presidency. The same might be said of the intimacy of marriage. As with any relationship, issues have to be worked through. Nothing is easy. Often, it just gets harder.

Maybe, like my son, I’m succumbing here to youthful idealism, anticipating more than I should. Of course it’s foolish to bet all on such an outcome in a world full of deceit, but we should not be blind to persons of high ideals. America is a young country in many ways, and Barack Obama has the potential to be a superb leader. Nevertheless, since I’m no youth, I’ll know to expect many disappointments and surprising satisfaction.

McCain Bundler Is Funding Anti-Obama Smear Group

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:56:25 EDT

Dallas Billionaire, McCain bundler, is anti-Obama group's backer

by Ben Smith, Politico

The spokesman for the American Issues Project, the independent group whose ad is the most negative of the cycle and links Obama to terrorism, says the group just filed a report naming its sole donor.

The donor, spokesman Christian Pinkston said, is Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who made his first fortune in chain pharmacies and is now listed as the 73rd richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated by Forbes at $2.1 billion...........

ARTICLE- http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/Dallas_Billionaire_McCain_donor_is_antiObama_groups_backer.html?showall

Annette and Harold Simmons of Dallas, Texas

HCBO Welcome Kit

Wayne — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:36:20 EDT

Hey-

Welcome to the High Country for Barack Obama newsletter! I’m Wayne Braffman, and from now through November 4th you can expect an e-mail from me each week to help keep you up to date about the campaign. Below you’ll find links and attachments to get you started. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions or ideas for the newsletter, or to subscribe to it (HighCountryObama@BellSouth.Net). This is our movement!

Obama/Biden...YES WE CAN!

-Wayne

(ps: e-mail me at HighCountryObama@BellSouth.Net if you want any of the attachments mentioned below.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCain Bundler Is Funding Anti-Obama Smear Group

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:04:18 EDT

Dallas Billionaire, McCain bundler, is anti-Obama group's backer

by Ben Smith, Politico

The spokesman for the American Issues Project, the independent group whose ad is the most negative of the cycle and links Obama to terrorism, says the group just filed a report naming its sole donor.

ARTICLE- http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/Dallas_Billionaire_McCain_donor_is_antiObama_groups_backer.html?showall

Annette and Harold Simmons of Dallas, Texas

SWIFTBOATING MUST STOP!

MEL — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:42:49 EDT

I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY SMEAR CAMPAIGNS HAVE COME ACROSS MY E.MAIL SINCE BARAK OBAMA BEGAN HIS CAMPAIGN, AND NOW THEY ARE INTENSIFING. WORSE, FRIENDS WHOM I PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED WELL EDUCATED AND INTELLIGENT BELIEVE MOST OF THEM: OBAMA IS A FOREIGN NATIONAL WITH A FORGED BIRTH CERTIFICATE, OBAMA DISRESPECTS OUR FLAG, REMOVED IT FROM HIS PLANE AND REFUSES TO SALUTE OR WEAR IT, IS A CLOSET MUSLIM, WANTS TO RAISE TAXES FOR THE POOR AND LOWER THEM FOR THE RICH....YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. HIS WEB SITE HAS AN ENTIRE AREA SOLELY DEDICATED TO REFUTING OUTRAGEOUS FALSEHOODS. AND THE "SWIFTBOAT" PHENOMENON IS LIKE MEDUSA: CUT OFF ONE ARM AND MULTIPLE OTHERS GROW. WHEN DID THIS BECOME THE STANDARD? WORSE, WHEN DID OUR CITIZENRY START BLINDLY ACCEPTING THAT GOOD IS BAD, HIGH IS LOW, TRUTH IS LIE?

NOW THERE IS A NEW LOW JUST REPORTED IN POLITCO ON BEN SMITH'S BLOG THAT THE "AMERICAN ISSUES PROJECT", A CONVENIENT 501(c)4 ENITY WHICH DOESN'T HAVE TO DISCLOSE WHERE THEIR FUNDING ORIGINATES, WILL BE RUNNING A NEW TV AD LINKING OBAMA WITH 9/11 AND THE WEATHERMEN UNDERGROUND'S 1971 CAPITOL BOMBING. (OBAMA WOULD HAVE BEEN A KID OF ABOUT 10 OR 11.) THE AD WILL BE RUNNING IN OHIO AND MICHIGAN AND ASKS IF AMERICA REALLY WANTS A PRESIDENT WHO IS LINKED TO A TERRORIST GROUP AFTER EXPERIENCING 9/11. (I PARAPHRASE.)

NOW HERE'S THE DEAL: MCCAIN AND SOME OF THE EXTREMISTS WHO SUPPORT HIM ARE DEFINING OBAMA WITH CONSTANT SMEAR CAMPAIGNS, AND IT IS WORKING: JUST AS IT DID WITH KERRY AND THE "SWIFTBOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH" (NOW THERE'S AN OXYMORON). AND LIKE KERRY, OBAMA IS CONTINUOUSLY TRYING TO CLEAR HIS NAME WHILE HIS SUPPORT ERODES. (WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT TRASH IS ANOTHER SUBJECT ENTIRELY.)

IF OBAMA WANTS TO WIN THIS ELECTION, HE MUST CREATE A WELL-ORGANIZED AND EFFICIENT "WAR ROOM", MUCH AS CLINTON DID WITH JAMES CARVILLE, TO RESPOND TO SMEAR ATTACKS WITHIN HOURS. FURTHER, HE SHOULD START PRE-VIEWING HIS OWN ADS TO THE MEDIA SO THAT HE CAN CAPITALIZE ON THE EXTENSIVE (AND FREE) MEDIA COVERAGE SUCH PLOYS ALLOW, JUST LIKE THE REPUBLICANS DO. PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR HIS MESSAGE.

OBAMA DREW US TO HIM BY RUNNING A DIFFERENT KIND IF CAMPAIGN, FOCUSED ON THE POSITIVE AND THE COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF ALL PEOPLE, REFUSING TO STOOP TO NEGATIVE ATTACKS THAT IGNORED THE ISSUES. HE STARTED SHOWING US THAT HE COULD BRING US TOGETHER AGAIN AS A NATION AND HE GAVE US HOPE, SHOWING US THAT HE WOULD NOT BE A KNEE-JERK-REACTION SORT OF PRESIDENT, BUT A THOUGHTFUL, DELIBERATE ONE WHO DECIDES HIS ACTIONS BASED UPON THE FACTS. SADLY, IF HE WANTS TO WIN, HE MUST START CHANGING HIS TACTICS, BEGINNING WITH A "WAR ROOM". IF HE DOESN'T, HE WILL LOSE, AND SO WILL WE; SO WILL ALL OF AMERICA. ARE YOU LISTENING, MR. OBAMA?

Smears & Thought Pollution

Jacquelyn 4 Obama — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:39:31 EDT

While writing my letter to editors about the unfortunate Mr. Corsi, I realized that, like any form of violence, the effect of unscrupulous smears is that they affect all the people involved; those who create them, those who are targeted by them, and all who come in contact with them.

Immersion in the practice of violent misrepresentation of reality tends to impair rational thinking, and disable one's capacity to define the difference between truth and lies, and in losing our capacity for honesty, eventually makes honesty irrelevant.

In any systematic and institutionalized infliction of violence, all are inevitably tainted and alienated. Robert Heinlein, a science fiction writer who was himself a Naval Academy graduate observed that, "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent." a thought that has stayed with me for many years.

Perhaps that accounts, in part, for the failure of administrations that achieve elected office by smearing all opponents while fooling themselves into accepting that a good end justifies getting there by bad methods.

We don't eat rotten food because we know it makes us sick, so why choose to think rotten thoughts and use rotten words?

Must we accept the premise that campaigning for office must be a "blood sport" with voters analogously filling the stadium to sort lions from gladiators? Does the tragedy of Hamilton and Burr require incessant smears merely because some superannuated adolescents justify bad conduct as if it were a patriotic tradition given to us by our Founders?

Alert: Chicago Sun Times picks up smear article and puts on front page

Mary R. Il. — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:33:46 EDT

Well well, imagine my surprise as I saw the front page of the Sun Times today, being held up in the air by a women selling them in te middle of a busy street, me on my way to my Thursday nanny job.

For ever the Sun Times has been the voice of the Deocratic Party in Illinois, while the Tribune was the GOP voice. Gosh with headlines like these, who needs friends any longer.

Not a thoughtfu & sensitivel piece written about the extended Obama family in Kenya, but rather SENSATIONALISM at its worst.

But this is Chicago folks...

The paper is going under..anything to sell a few more. They cannot disappear quick enoough for my tastes.

http://www.suntimes.com/index.html

You Are Welcomed To Visit My Blog

Tony — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 06:02:13 EDT

Latinos 4 Obama Blog

The Time for "Negative" Campaigning

PDJ — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:37:52 EDT

Seen the latest polls? Think the Republican and McCain smear machines aren't to some extent if not largely responsible for the "tightening" of the race? Think again - they are!

When your opponent promulgates so many lies and so much negative innuendo, it is foolish to not HIT BACK HARD. Moreover, when your opponent and his party have SO MANY negatives themselves, it is an extreme disservice to voters to not point those out repeatedly and often. Otherwise, Obama and the Democratic Party may find themselves in the same position as Gore and Kerry come January - to the everlasting detriment of our country and its people.

A case in point - McCain continues to claim that Obama will "raise your taxes" - implying that that will be so for everyone. From what I understand, taxes will go up for that 5% or so of the wealthy BUT will stay the same or be lowered for the vast majority of the people (correct me if I'm wrong here). The appropriate comeback for this distortion is that those (the wealthy and the corporations they control) - who have disproportionately benefited from not only the economy in recent years but also from the lion's share of government services, protection, tax cuts / loopholes, bailouts, and largess - might actually start having to pay "their fair share" (more on this in a later post).

While one might hope for and espouse a plan for "bipartisanism", it is hardly a "flip flop" on that hope and plan to do whatever one must to ensure that the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans - who have shown practically NO bipartisanism over the last decades in general and the last 8 years in particular - get VOTED OUT OF OFFICE. If past and recent experience have proven anything, it is that the number of Republicans who will truly and consistently behave in a bipartisan manner may barely exceed the fingers on one's hands. Whether they were in the minority or a majority, the Republicans have proven themselves over and over to be "old dogs" that can't or won't learn a "new trick" of bipartisanism. Only when that chaff is cleared away may the remaining Republicans and any new ones "learn" the virtues of bipartisanism!

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong (but I do NOT think so!),
PDJ

How The CIA Kinda Helped Make “Obama Nation” Smear A Best-Seller

Charley James — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 11:40:08 EDT

When Jerome Corsi’s latest distortion-and lie-packed smear book, Obama Nation, hit the best seller lists this week, Corsi and his Republican Party apparatchik turned hack publisher can thank a precedent established by the CIA in the early 1950s.

Obama Nation owes its hit status to what The New York Times says are “bulk purchases” of the tome. In other words, right wing groups from the Republican National Committee to 501(C)(3) organisations to who knows which group of wingnuts bought boxes of Corsi’s deranged musings. What they do with the volumes is anyone’s guess: Hand them out to fellow travellers, distribute them to delegates in “welcome packages” at the Republican convention in St. Paul, or just stack the boxes in closets.

This is precisely how then-CIA director Allan Dulles made a national best seller out Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler’s sombre, brooding, anti-Communist fictional rant, in the early 1950s. The unintended consequence was to force millions of baby boomer junior and senior high school students in the US to read the monstrosity.

How the CIA came to be a factor in the book publishing business in the America is a fascinating story, a historical footnote that shows Langley was interfering in domestic politics long before the Church Commission exposed Richard Nixon’s use of the agency to spy on anti-war activists during Viet Nam.

In fact, the ploy traces its roots to the end of World War II. When William “Wild Bill” Donaldson established and ran the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the war, he worked closely with both Dulles and Koestler. Dr. Mark Levine, an English professor at the University of Toronto and noted Koestler scholar, has told me that after the war as Donaldson and Koestler shared a long boat ride home from Europe they talked about their belief that an OSS-like organisation should continue to play a role in intelligence gathering. By the time the ship docked in New York, they had conceived the structure, organization, duties and responsibilities of what would become the CIA. Donaldson presented Pres. Truman with his idea who sent a bill to Congress which quickly passed the measure into law. Dulles became its first director.

Spurred by the Soviet’s blockage of Berlin, by the late 1940s and extending into the Fifties the United States was gripped with Communist paranoia. The Red Menace everywhere: Politicians, statesmen, screenwriters and directors, maybe even grocery store bag boys all were suspected of being Commies or Communist “sympathizers” and countless Congressional committees obsessed on uprooting and exposing them.

In the middle of this national psychosis, Koestler – a long-time anti Communist who was imprisoned briefly by the French in 1941 – showed Donaldson a copy of Darkness at Noon, which he’d written in 1941. Wild Bill thought it ought to be one of those “must read” books and handed a copy on to Dulles, now ensconced as the CIA’s director. Dulles, no slouch himself in spotting the Reds In Every Bed, decided the best way to bring the 10-year old, inconsequential novel to America’s attention was to make it a best seller. It was easy enough for Dulles to it pull off. With the CIA’s many secret operating funds, he sent agents fanning out across New York to order – it was barely in print in the States at the time – and buy up all of the copies of the book they could lay their hands on. The books were sent back to Dulles who ordered them stored in CIA vaults.

Because the CIA refused repeatedly over the years to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about its role in making Darkness at Noon a cultural phenomenon in the 1950s, it’s not known whether Koestler’s books are still collecting dust in the Company’s storage bins a half-century later. The University of Toronto’s Dr. Levine believes they remain buried at Langley.

So read the best-seller listing this week of Obama Nation with scepticism. Its sudden prominence owes a debt of gratitude to the CIA, Bill Donaldson and Allan Dulles.

Why should Karl Rove go to the Convention?

Benjamin Vos, Nashville — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:00:15 EDT

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/14/0944/37269/861/567660

I saw this blog and really appreciated the idea:

"Sean Hannity and Karl Rove have made it clear that they intend to go to the Democratic Convention and harass delegates. They do not intend to go there in a journalistic capacity but plan to start fights on the convention floor, bring a so called security entourage with them to intimidate others, harass delegates, and basically cause trouble. Therefore, the DNC should take their press passes and not let them onto the site. The same might be suggested for Bill O'Reilly. These people are not journalists, they are right wing smear merchants without an ounce of integrity in them."

I hadn't thought of it before. It's obvious to me that Hannity and Rove are not serious journalists. They are editorialists who are committed to promoting the Republican agenda. Not only that, but they have been engaging in lies, distortions, and smear attacks for decades.

One basic principle of journalism is a commitment to reporting the news, not creating the news. So, why should these so-called journalists be allowed to receive press credentials to attend the Democratic National Convention?

The Democratic Convention Committee ought to invest more in supporting serious journalists - especially citizen journalists - rather than these highly-paid talking heads from Fox News Channel.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. I'd really appreciate your feedback about this idea.

Thanks!

Fear and Smear

Ms. Support — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:26:17 EDT

Fear and Smear - it's the only thing Republicans have left.

MSM anchors have introduced this book as lies and distortions, and have in effect discredited it. The only people who will read and embrace this book as truth are those who are not going to vote for Obama anyway. Open for suggests on how we can stop this. This book is named Obama Nation.

Book on Obama Hopes to Repeat Anti-Kerry Feat

John From Cape Cod. Ma — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:30:23 EDT

Link to DIGG: http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Book_on_Obama_Hopes_to_Repeat_Anti_Kerry_Feat

Link to Article:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/us/politics/13book.html?ex=1376366400&en=e490371cda91e464&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

By JIM RUTENBERG and JULIE BOSMANPublished: August 12, 2008

In the summer of 2004 the conservative gadfly Jerome R. Corsi shot to the top of the best-seller lists as co-author of “Unfit for Command,” the book attacking Senator John Kerry’s record on a Vietnam War Swift boat that began the larger damaging campaign against Mr. Kerry’s war credentials as he sought the presidency.

Skip to next paragraph Fox

Jerome R. Corsi, author of “The Obama Nation” and co-author of ”Unfit for Command” (2004).

Almost exactly four years after that campaign began, Mr. Corsi has released a new attack book painting Senator Barack Obama, the Democrats’ presumed presidential nominee, as a stealth radical liberal who has tried to cover up “extensive connections to Islam” — Mr. Obama is Christian — and questioning whether his admitted experimentation with drugs in high school and college ever ceased.

Krugman Adds His Thoughts

Simon Gornick — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 02:07:49 EDT

Krugman in the NYT yesterday made the point loud and clear about prosaic politics. Pay heed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/opinion/08krugman.html?em

The case is a simple one. We hate the politics of ignorance, but we know it works.

We think it shouldn't so we don't use it. We think the ends shouldn't have to justify the means. but they do.

Democrats have something that Republicans long ago abandoned. Shame.

We need to abandon it too, or we could lose again.

However morally unsettling the consequences of going negative are to our collective Democratic psyche, they are far outweighed by the real-life consequences for America under four more years of Republican gangsterism.

The Most biased Name in News

Stefan — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:53:26 EDT

A lot of the false accusation that are circling about Barack Obama find their origin at Fox News. What most people don't realize that Fox News is one of the most biased news channels not only in the United States but in the entire Western hemisphere. Fox News does not only appear more biased than any other news station, the channel also broadcasts untrue statements which they might revoke sometime late at night when nobody is watching. One example is the origin of the statement that Barack Obama attended a Madrassa (radical Muslim school) in his teenager years, which has been aired on Fox News and by now is clearly shown to be false, but is still stuck in the minds of thousands of potential voters.

Research the candidates, get as much information on both of them as you can, but disregard Fox News. Forward this link: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067 ( a .org website) to anyone that you think might trust this news station.

Obama Called a Liar by MSNBC Pundit

Niteskolar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:27:50 EDT

The MSNBC pundit just asked Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis if Obama was a liar. Unbelievable.

The Cogntive Miser Effect Is Why Smear Emails Like This Work

William — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:52:23 EDT

When people believe nonsense without checking it out, it is usually

because it is confirming them in something that they already wanted to

think. It's the "cognitive miser" effect. We absorb that information

that suits what we are looking for or readily prepared to absorb, and

ignore the rest.

Here is a link to the tax policy institutes's analysis of both Obama and McCain's tax policies.

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/UploadedPDF/411693_CandidateTaxPlans.pdf As shown in this document, income taxes would go DOWN under Obama's plan for all but the top 10% of income earners in the country. Page 37 has a graph that is particularly striking. It is true that he would increase capital gains tax, which would affect people selling stock, and other investment instruments.

Chicago Tribune: Obama as 'Elitist' and 'Egghead'

Leo Robert Klein — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:13:42 EDT

The Chicago Tribune is channeling the Weekly Standard:

Having made hay of Barack Obama's relative youth and his foreign-sounding name, his opponents are now homing in on his neighborhood.

For his critics, the presumptive Democratic nominee's home turf offers a tempting opportunity to paint him as an elitist and, perhaps more damaging, an egghead.

It gets better:

Obama left himself open to this line of political attack when the media discovered he'd had some sort of relationship with Bill Ayers, an unrepentant 1960s radical, and Obama shrugged it off, saying Ayers was just a "guy who lives in my neighborhood."

His response permitted The Weekly Standard to wonder: "Wow, what kind of neighborhood does Barack live in?"

See, this is how the game is played: instead of automatically identifying this as pure rubbish, the Chicago Tribune uses it as a jumping off point -- literally the context -- of a brief look at life in Hyde Park and U. of C.

What's next? Call Obama a drug-addict -- no, rather say his "critics" call him a drug-addict -- and then look at how easy it is to score some weed in Washington Park?

This is how a GOP smear campaign gains traction. It's happening before our very eyes.

P.S. "...some sort of relationship with Bill Ayers..." Can you get any sloppier?

What is Executive Experience?

Chris Comninel — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:19:01 EDT

Today, I got an email from my uncle, a forwarded one of course, attempting to detail and compare Barack's executive experience to John McCain's. The two columns of comparison were years in Congress and years in the military.

It was along the lines of McCain: Congress-26 years, Military-22 years...Obama: Congress-143 days, Military-0.

Here was my response.

Can Secret Muslim Smear be Mitigated by Clinton as VP?

Steve Sulkin — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:17:10 EDT

Even when faced with contradicting facts, people will still believe whatever smears they are presented with, because it’s an easy validation of what they internally want to believe. And if the lies are presented as unequivocal fact, their job gets even easier. They can stop listening, stop thinking, just close their minds and wait until they get into the voting booth to robotically tick off the candidate they wanted from the beginning regardless of the facts. Republican strategy like this has worked for a long time.

The only way to combat false claim campaigns and reduce the number of people who believe the lies to a small fringe group, is through massive, persistent rebuttals and (ideally) tasteful, counter attacks

But Obama is nowhere near reducing those that accept the smears to a tiny percentage of fringe believers. Incredibly, 26% of all people in the U.S. (according to a poll on CNN, July 30, 2008), 1 in every 4 people, still believe that Obama is a secret Muslim. Smears work. And the less informed people are, the more easily such scare tactics can manipulate them. Ignorance opens the door to being taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. That’s how dictators (as well as unqualified Presidents) come into power.

So how can Obama make a dent in the 26%? The real question is, does he need to? Are those 26% McCain voters anyway? If that's the case, maybe chasing myths to try to change the minds of bigots is wasted time.

But some of those 26% of probable McCain voters can be swayed. Those people, the ones who, when given the facts, that Obama went to a public secular school in Indonesia as a very young child, was never a Muslim, has always been a Christian, can be woken up out of their stupor of misinformation. And they must be pursued, because the winner of this election will win by a few percentiles in a few key states.

One possible solution for Obama: Hillary Clinton as VP. She might very well net Obama those few extra percentile points he needs now. That, as hard as it is for me to personally resign myself to, could be the ticket.

Obama on Offense: New Website Called the Low Road Express

William — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:19:06 EDT

Barack Obama launches a new web site to combat the bizarre barrage of petty smears levied at him by John McCain. McCain's stock has really sunk. He has gone from a maverick to playing a sheep following the George Bush playbook of divisive, dishonest politics.

OK, the Swiftboat is near the shore. Now what?

Liberal Nationalist — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:23:57 EDT

Now begins a new phase of the 2 front media war - when both blogs and select press outlets use the techniques of psyops to manage the Barack problem. How do we dominate perception with the truth?

I am not sure of all strategies here, but the problem is illuminated by this Media Matters article on the Swift Boat books under Kerry. [http://mediamatters.org/items/200807300005]

On the Swiftboats against Kerry campaign, "from a column by William Raspberry published in The Washington Post on October 25, 2004:

Indeed, for me the most important complaint about mainstream coverage of the Swift boat affair was not that the mainstream press ignored it, but that mainstream journalists waited too long to get beyond the they-said-he-said "objective" reporting and try to figure out who was closer to the truth.

From an October 8, 2007, washingtonpost.com Media Backtalk Web chat with Howard Kurtz: Oviedo, Fla.: What, if anything, about the even-faster media pace of blogs, vlogs, etc. would help stop a Swift Boat story from taking hold, as happened last time? Does the ultra-fast news cycle help dilute the impact of these type of trumped-up scandal stories? Howard Kurtz: Any story, trumped-up or not, gets out there faster in these days of digital media. Real reporting, it turns out, takes a bit of time. In the case of the Swift Boat ads, a tiny buy in three markets ballooned into a huge story because the spots were constantly replayed on cable news. It took two or three weeks for a handful of newspapers to realize that this had become an important story and to do the digging that raised questions about the claims that some of Kerry's ex-mates were making. The papers did a good job, but they were too slow.

So now here is the "script": they are rolling out, since they can't beat him on the facts, on public opinion regarding his positions, or on his policy preference, it must be a full court press to the script: the shorthand, single-phrase description of a candidate that, once established, all future coverage must fit. Example: Al Gore "aloof serial exaggerator." Bush II was "down to Earth, like to have a beer with him." Kerry: "flip-flopper." John McCain: "straight-shooter maverick" Note that the script need have no relation to reality, its only needs are that it be established. Well, it appears the script for Barack Obama is being written, and it reads "arrogant and presumptuous." (this is a loose quote that someone borrowed from The Daily Howler, by the way)

So "responding with the truth" is critical - I sent an letter on the Milbank hit-job to the Post, to the Ombudsman at the Post, posted it on my blog and on the Clark08 site where I saw it.

But we need to ramp up these skills, to multiply their power and speed - pronto.

Do we have ready access to even old, recirculated BS that didn't make the Smear list? For example I know Obama was a professor, though the term used was different, but searching for the University of Chicago quote that confirmed this was not simple, as attacks show up on the topic on Google far more than the one or 2 places you can find the true answer. So now I keep the quote on my computer, but I can't be the only person having this sort of problem. We need sort of a rapid responce cache of facts and articles (like the "Know the Facts" one on Obama's site but more full and more fully searchable) The stuff is out there, but how do we get to it, keep it easily accessed and get it into peoples hands rapidly and forcefully - and how can we network better to force the media to deal with their own untruths, as today. Please let me know if you have suggestions/existing solutions.

Repost: Obama 2 me, 4 us, hope against more Bush via McCain

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:23:31 EDT

     A young man stepped up to the podium at the 2004 Democrat's National Convention to give a speech. A riveting speech it was. He touched the heart, the mind and the soul as he spoke of the civil rights of all Americans. About the need to take back our government, to change the way government operates and make it transparent to the people once more.

     That we ARE one nation and should refuse those who would tear us apart for their own political gain. That we are a diverse nation, Latin’s, Blacks, Whites and every shade in between. Members of various religious creeds, races, and individuals along the vast spectrum of sexuality financial capability. That we are God’s diversity and in our diversity is our true strength. That we are a house divided by political mudslinging and lies. That we must come together as a house united. Not mentioning what we all know, that a house divided can only fall.

     A "Keynote Address" he was giving too, a message of hope for the future, its unarguable truth unheard of in modern politics. I was glued to my seat, listening as this man spoke. Reminding myself that we are so good at coming together for one another in times of tragedy. Knowing that the current Bush/Cheney Administration itself was a tragedy of our proud heritage.

     His speech was in favor of John Kerry and we watched as a group, now indicted for their actions, called the “Swift-boat Veterans” slung heaps of lies and mud upon one honored veteran; and in doing so slung mud upon every veteran in the grand military history of this country. The people we swayed by the mud, untruth and spread of fear which would never come to be. He advocated John Kerry and John Kerry lost the election.

     Giving us four more years of economic decline, military bumbling, an oil consortium growing rich as the rest grew poorer. But for the rich, like Warren Buffet who, upon receiving his $395 million dollar tax break said he didn’t ask for it, he certainly didn’t need it. The other wealthy were not so forthcoming as another four years of feeding the rich at the expense of every hard working American.

     But, the average American was also rewarded with tax breaks. Little did they suspect that they would pay dearly much more than they received. The Bush administration stood tall and proudly demanded that the dollar was strong, the economy on the upswing, as they had for four years prior. No one seemed to pay much attention that the dollar, for seven straight years, had been continually falling on the world market. The world market being the true barometer of a national economy, though the elite like to confuse things with GNP and deficit spending or consumer buying.

     For six years, George Bush replaced “unemployment” with “unemployment rolls”, a smooth move. “The unemployment rolls are down this month”, not mentioning that the unemployment rolls are reduced each month that any unemployed person’s benefits have run-out. They didn’t get jobs, they just were off the rolls. When they did get jobs, it was usually making much less money than they had been.

     Seven, going on eight, years of deceitfulness and blatant lies in government, all allowed by an obviously controlled press. Yes, you can fool all of the people some of the time. Even for eight years running.

     This man who gave that keynote address speech that was so riveting. His name, we know, is Barack Obama.

     I watched him over the years and yes, he fulfills his promises. He acts in a bipartisan manner and even produced the most compelling ethics laws that the State of Illinois has ever seen. In the United States Senate, he began to open the government, in spite of George Bush's disabling of the Freedom of Information Act.

     He recently created a huge stir with his support of the new FISA legislation. Though fulfilling his promise to fight to have the immunity provision removed, it remained in the bill, as expected. The rewrite of this FISA bill itself, reins in Bush's domestic surveillance but allows for International surveillance, so long as an American citizen is not involved in what is espied.

     That the PAA was to expire in August and Bush had already demanded that he would veto another extension, the passing of this bill is necessary. Add the fact that it was known that this bill would pass the Senate with little friction, I must wonder. Why did Barack Obama support it when it would pass with or without his vote? The only answer is that there was an "Old-School" trade-off.

     You see, Obama knew that his support would create a wave of unrest in his supporters but said, "I will take my lumps". What nobody seemed to be watching at the time is that, probably the most important financial and health legislation was also going through the Senate, a Medicare bill that Bush promised to veto.

     A number of Republican's oddly did an about face and approved the new Medicare legislation. John McCain the only Senator absent for the vote (but he has a history of being absent from the Senate floor for his entire career more than any other Senator anyway). Ted Kennedy, recover ing from brain surgery even made an appearance, casting the deciding vote, which made the legislation veto-proof. Hence, I believe that Obama put himself on the line for an "Old-School" trade-off. He is, after all, only a Senator and must work within the system. I think that everyone might understand that.

     I almost forgot the "Change" thing. Yes, "Change" has been used in many campaigns before. However, contrary to what many people claim, Barack Obama defines "Change" if one reads his proposals or listens to his speeches it is all there.

     Open (called now, "transparency") Government is Barack Obama's "Change". A change in how government operates. A reopening of the doors that have been closed as government operates behind them. Promising executive order to reverse many of those Bush put into effect. Like George's lengthening the President Act that the activities of Presidents would not be public knowledge for a full 25 years! Moreover, reversing the executive orders Bush used to disable the Freedom of Information Act. Barack also promises to correct George Bush's extension of the "National Security" classification to include what Cheney had for lunch at a public restaurant. (My joke, me bad.)

     I hope that everyone recognizes that Barack Obama does bring us a new Hope. That the "movement" part of his campaign is the promise to Change the way that a government we have come to mistrust, operates. This from a man whose political history is the "proof in the pudding" that he keeps his word.

     I watch now as the McCain campaign begins to smear tactics. Slinging lies blatantly into the media which devours them like Adam and Eve devoured the Fruit of the Garden. I wonder how many people will be swayed into believing these lies and campaigning spins.

    I hope very few.

Loveya,
Duane Kuehn

Repost: Obama vs. McCain the Bush-alike

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:19:28 EDT

Repost: Obama vs. McCain-bush drone

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:16:27 EDT

Repost: Barack Obama vs. Bush's McCain drone

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:14:53 EDT

Repost: Barack Obama vs Bush's McCain drone

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:12:53 EDT

REpost: Barack Obama, our only true hope.

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:10:46 EDT

Barack Obama, to me, for us, with hope, dignity and truth.

Duane Kuehn — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:56:58 EDT

I will vote American

silent reader no more — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:44:05 EDT

Do you remember how you felt on the morning of September 11, 2001? Do you remember the thoughts that you had as you watched our Twin Towers crumble to the ground? As the Pentagon was burning? As you looked at the gaping hole in the earth in Pennsylvania?

Did you ever stop to wonder if the firefighters that ran into the towers just before they fell happened to be Democrat or Republican? Do you think anyone cared whether the firefighter or other Good Samaritan who helped them out of the WTC was white or black, Christian, Jew, Muslim or Atheist? Would YOU have cared? On that day and the few weeks after, we were all Americans. Just simply and beautifully, Americans.

On November 4th, you have the opportunity to be - just simply and beautifully, an American. After 8 years, our country is in dire straits. Don’t vote race, don’t vote smears, and don’t vote lies. This Iraq war was a lie, WMD was a lie, 4100 troops died for a lie. These lies have continued on and on for 8 years in part due to distractions. Some have counted on distractions, not truth to further their cause and they continue to do so. Stop. Listen. Learn. We have a candidate who wants to fight and win the RIGHT war and avenge the deaths of 3,000 Americans and bring Bin Laden to justice. One who was for the right war, and against the wrong one from the beginning. One who has people around the world waving American flags again instead of burning them. If you have been honest with yourself, and you discover after much soul-searching that this decision will come down to race for you, I ask you this: Imagine that you are stuck on the 65th floor of the WTC on the morning of 9/11 and someone is there just on the other side of the door ready to help you and bring you to safety. They are kicking at the wall and you hear their voice getting closer and closer. All the sudden, the person breaks through and reaches through ready to pull you to safety. They say, “Grab my hand!” You look, and the outstretched hand is brown. You hear glass shattering around you, the heat of the fire suffocates you, the screams of people dying rings in your ears. You look down at your own hand, close your eyes, and then…..well, the choice is yours.

This November 4th, I hope that you will vote the issues. I hope that you will reject the politics of fear, lies and distractions. I will cast my vote for Barack Obama, and I am stretching out my hand, grasping for yours, asking that you do the same. This November 4th, I will vote American.

How to Email Regarding Smears

Beverly — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:48:15 EDT

Mikeystyle has a blog with instructions and information on how to respond to smears when you receive them. It is at:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/Mikeystyle/gGBLHQ

He has a sample email that can be used. He has asked that everyone pass this on to everyone they know to help stop the smears.

Help Fight the Smears

Beverly — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 10:30:38 EDT

There is a web site that sites the current smears that are circulating and their sources. Each smear is followed by the truth. Even a copy of Obama's birth certificate showing he was indeed born in the United states.

Visit: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

to see what is going around.

McCain Ad Shows Barack Obama Playing Basketball With The Troops in Kuwait

gina — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:58:49 EDT

Jake Tapper notes an oopsie by McCain's marketers in New McCain Ad Bashes Obama for Not Visiting Troops Using Footage of Obama Visiting Troops

The ad begins with misrepresentations of Barack Obama's trip over seas, but right at second 14 karmic justice begins kicking in. For a full 8 seconds, 25% of the ad time, the video shows Barack Obama playing basketball with troops in Kuwait. You have to see it to believe it.

Try as they might, they just can't counter Barack Obama's sincerety about supporting the troops.

You Can Help (28 July 2008)

Kaleokualoha — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:15:41 EDT

Every person of integrity will probably agree that slander and libel are wrong, especially when the target is a dead poet who cannot defend himself. Yet this is exactly what is happening. By defaming the character of my father, Frank Marshall Davis, and exaggerating his radical influence on Barack Obama as “Obama’s Communist Mentor”[1] in February 2008, right-wing bloggers seek to portray Barack Obama as unworthy of becoming President of the United States.

They vilify a dead poet who loved the United States, and who was more likely to teach random acts of kindness than disloyalty to young Barack Obama. They deliberately misrepresent the values Obama may have internalized through this relationship, in a transparent attempt to smear Obama’s character. Like weeds in a garden of truth, such disinformation must be removed at the roots. Unfortunately, the right-wing Internet brigade is very efficient at spreading this disinformation. Fortunately, their credibility can be destroyed in the eyes of people of integrity, through irrefutable proof of their deliberate misrepresentation.

We need to Smear the Smear Attacks!

Gay from Austin, TX — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:54:49 EDT

The following smear attack by Republicans has to be addressed now:

The Jihad Candidate - by Rich Carroll

Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the storyline is not so absurd that it can grasp our attention. 'The Manchurian Candidate' and 'Seven Days in May' are examples of plausible chains of events that captures the reader's imagination at best-seller level. 'What if' has always been the solid grist of fiction.

Get yourself something cool to drink, find a relaxing position, but before you continue, visualize the television photos of two jet airliners smashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and remind yourself this cowardly act of Muslim terror was planned for eight years.

How long did it take Islam and their oil money to find a candidate for President of the United States ? As long as it took them to place a Senator from Illinois and Minnesota ? The same amount of time to create a large Muslim enclave in Detroit ? The time it took them to build over 2,000 mosques in America ? The same amount of time required to place radical wahabbist clerics in our military and prisons as chaplains'?

Find a candidate who can get away with lying about their father being a 'freedom fighter' when he was actually part of the most corrupt and violent government in Kenya 's history. Find a candidate with close ties to The Nation of Islam and the violent Muslim overthrow in Africa , a candidate who is educated among white infidel Americans but hides his bitterness and anger behind a superficial toothy smile. Find a candidate who changes his American name of Barry to the Muslim name of Barak Hussein Obama, and dares anyone to question his true ties under the banner of 'racism'.Nurture this candidate in an atmosphere of anti-white American teaching and surround him with Islamic teachers.

Provide him with a bitter, racist, anti-white, anti-American wife, and supply him with Muslim middle east connections and Islamic monies.

Allow him to be clever enough to get away with his anti-white rhetoric and proclaim he will give $834 billion taxpayer dollars to the Muslim controlled United Nations for use in Africa .

Install your candidate in an atmosphere of deception because questioning him on any issue involving Africa or Islam would be seen as 'bigoted racism'; two words too powerful to allow the citizenry to be informed of facts. Allow your candidate to employ several black racist Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan followers as members of his Illinois Senatorial and campaign staffs.

Where is the bloodhound American 'free press' who doggedly overturned every stone in the Watergate case? Where are our nation's reporters that have placed every Presidential candidate under the microscope of detailed scrutiny; the same press who pursue Bush's 'Skull and Bones' club or ran other candidates off with persistent detective and research work?

Why haven't 'newsmen' pursued the 65 blatant lies told lies told by this candidate during the Presidential primaries? Where are the stories about this candidate's cousin and the Muslim butchery in Africa ? Since when did our national press corps become weak, timid, and silent? Why haven't they regaled us with the long list of socialists and communists who have surrounded this 'out of nowhere' Democrat candidate or that his church re-printed the Hamas Manifesto in their bulletin, and that his 'close pastor friend and mentor' met with Middle East terrorist Moammar Gaddafi, (Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) Why isn't the American press telling us this candidate is supported by every Muslim organization in the world?

As an ultimate slap in the face, be blatant in the fact your candidate has ZERO interest in traditional American values and has the most liberal voting record in U.S. Senate history. Why has the American main stream media clammed-up on any negative reporting on Barak Hussein Obama? Why will they print Hillary Rodham Clinton's name but never write his middle name? Is it not his name? Why, suddenly, is ANY information about this candidate not coming from main stream media, but from the blogosphere by citizens seeking facts and the truth? Why isn't our media connecting the dots with Islam? Why do they focus on 'those bad American soldiers' while Islam slaughters non Muslims daily in 44 countries around the globe? Why does our media refer to Darfur as 'ethnic cleansing' instead of what it really is; Muslims killing non Muslims!

There is enough strange, anti-American activity surrounding Barak Hussein Obama to peek the curiosity of any reporter. WHERE IS OUR INVESTIGATIVE MEDIA!?

A formal plan for targeting America was devised three years after the Iranian revolution in 1982. The plan was summarized in a 1991 memorandum by Mohamed Akram, an operative of the global Muslim Brotherhood. 'The process of settlement' of Muslims in America , Akram explained, 'is a civilization jihad process.' This means that members of the Brotherhood must understand that their work in 'America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.'

There is terrorism we can see, smell and fear, but there is a new kind of terror invading The United States in the form of Sharia law and finance. Condoning it is civilization suicide. Middle East Muslims are coming to America in record numbers and building hate infidel mosques, buying our corporations, suing us for our traditions, but they and the whole subject of Islam is white noise leaving uninformed Americans about who and what is really peaceful. Where is our investigative press? Any criticism of Islam or their intentions, even though Islamic leaders state their intentions daily around the globe, brings-forth a volley of 'racist' from the left-wing Democrat crowd.

Lies and deception behind a master plan - the ingredients for 'The Manchurian Candidate' or the placement of an anti-American President in our nation's White House? Is it mere coincidence that an anti-capitalist run for President at the same time Islamic sharia finance and law is trying to make advancing strides into the United States ? Is it mere coincidence this same candidate wants to dis-arm our nuclear capability at a time when terrorist Muslim nations are expanding their nuclear weapons capability? Is it mere coincidence this candidate wants to reduce our military at a time of global jihad from Muslim nations?

Change for America ? What change? To become another 'nation of Islam'?

'It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God or the Bible.' George Washington

COULD IT BE THE REASON OUR COUNTRY HAS NOT BEEN UNDER ATTACK SINCE 9-11 BECAUSE THE MUSLIMS HAVE AN AGENDA TO TAKE OVER OUR GOVERNMENT BY PLACING A MUSLIM IN THE PRESIDENCY. IT MAY COME TO PASS IF AMERICANS DON'T WAKE UP!!!!!!

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Obama E-Mail Update

Niteskolar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:31:59 EDT

I diaried a couple of days ago about an e-mail I received from a friend in GA which supposedly was distinguishing between Obama and McCain on the economy. Diarist TXDemJenn at Daily Kos commented that this e-mail was just an adjusted repeat of one that had been circulating before and linked to a Politifact article on the subject - http://politifact.com/....

Other comments in the Daily Kos diary also gave links to helpful sites:

http://factcheck.barackobama.com/...

comparison of McCain/Obama tax cuts

and this Daily Kos diary that is quite succinct - Obama Will Raise Your Taxes: Anti-Meme Ammunition